Apps "rain in xx minutes" complication?

[tamara6]

I have a new Apple Watch and now I am looking for a weather complication that will inform me when rain is due in about a half hour. I'm looking for one of the longer complications, like for the bottom of the Utility watch face.

I downloaded Dark Sky yesterday, in the hopes that it would do this, but today it skipped right from cloudy to raining without any warning at all. Maybe none of the weather apps do this? I don't want to have to go to the app to see this info, I want it to appear on my watch dial (which I look at frequently)

Thanks!

 

[puckhead193]

Carrot weather does this but i think it’s a paid upgrade. (I have the paid upgrade and find its a useful app that a few dollars is worth it for the year. ). I use this feature a lot for both my jobs.

 

[tamara6]

Carrot weather does this but i think it’s a paid upgrade. (I have the paid upgrade and find its a useful app that a few dollars is worth it for the year. ). I use this feature a lot for both my jobs.

Carrot weather puts this in the complication, on the watch face? I really don't like subscription apps, but maybe I'll have to reconsider this.

 

[Graham4723]

“Rain Alarm” app.
Not 100% what you’re looking for in that it isn’t a complication but you do get a notification on the phone and watch face.

 

[testcard]

Both Dark Sky and Carrot will provide notifications along the lines of “Drizzle starting in XYZ in 10 minutes, stopping 40 minutes later.” The Carrot complication can also provide an hourly forecast.

 

[tamara6]

The problem with notifications is that sometimes I get busy and don't look at them right when they come in, and then when I do look and I see "rain in 20 minutes" and I'm not sure when the 20 minutes is timed from. Having a complication would make more sense (if the complication can be kept up to date). It's 8:20 and it says rain in 20 minutes, so that would be rain at 8:40. Now it is 8:30 and it says rain in 10 minutes. That's the sort of thing I was hoping for. On the other hand, it seems that complications can't really be kept that up to date, so maybe that just wouldn't work, anyway.

 

[CobraPA]

The notification history on the Watch always has a ‘10 min ago’ or a time for longer history items, which updates when you view it. I’m not aware of a complication like you suggest, but Carrot takes suggestions, and the time is possible like you want.

 

[CarlJ]

FWIW, I think Carrot Weather (primarily or by default) uses Dark Sky as a weather source (Dark Sky has an app, but their real smarts is in their back-end system that collects and correlates weather data from a bunch of sources, and then makes the summarized results available in JSON format - I use this data in the weather station I built for myself). No app is going to be right 100% of the time. I have Dark Sky and Storm Radar (which I liked better before WeatherUnderground ended up at the Weather Channel) on my phone, and both do have done a decent job of alerting me to upcoming rain. But I don't run the complications on my watch.

Dark Sky's raw data will give a percent chance of rain (and level of precipitation if it happens) for every minute for the next hour, and for ever hour for the next 48 hours (and for every day for 8 day - today and the coming week). Programs that use that data (there are many weather apps that use Dark Sky's back end) can choose to display it in different ways - not just graphics, part of that is deciding how much chance of rain before you actually say something - there are an awful lot of hours that end up with "1% chance of drizzle", which is information the user generally doesn't want (you're much more interested when there's, say, 10% or 20% or 50% chance).

 

[GDF]

Great summary. So, which one do you like better? I have Dark Sky, but never tried Carrot.

FWIW, I think Carrot Weather (primarily or by default) uses Dark Sky as a weather source (Dark Sky has an app, but their real smarts is in their back-end system that collects and correlates weather data from a bunch of sources, and then makes the summarized results available in JSON format - I use this data in the weather station I built for myself). No app is going to be right 100% of the time. I have Dark Sky and Storm Radar (which I liked better before WeatherUnderground ended up at the Weather Channel) on my phone, and both do have done a decent job of alerting me to upcoming rain. But I don't run the complications on my watch.

Dark Sky's raw data will give a percent chance of rain (and level of precipitation if it happens) for every minute for the next hour, and for ever hour for the next 48 hours (and for every day for 8 day - today and the coming week). Programs that use that data (there are many weather apps that use Dark Sky's back end) can choose to display it in different ways - not just graphics, part of that is deciding how much chance of rain before you actually say something - there are an awful lot of hours that end up with "1% chance of drizzle", which is information the user generally doesn't want (you're much more interested when there's, say, 10% or 20% or 50% chance).

 

[testcard]

I’ve been using both apps for several years and if I could only keep one it would be Carrot. It’s very accurate, and the developer is quick to iron out bugs while adding new features with each major release.
Here’s the dedicated thread.

CARROT Weather's customizable complications

** Edit: This post is a little dated now, as I've continued to make major improvements to the Apple Watch app. Check out these annotated screenshots for details on the recent redesign of CARROT Weather for Apple Watch. ** Hi MacRumors forum goers! I know a bunch of you are huge fans of CARROT...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Azathoth123]

I use both of them. Rain notifications are a subscription on Carrot, but not on Dark Sky. It’s cheaper to buy Dark Sky for the notifications than to subscribe to Carrot.

 

[GDF]

I use both of them. Rain notifications are a subscription on Carrot, but not on Dark Sky. It’s cheaper to buy Dark Sky for the notifications than to subscribe to Carrot.

Which one would you keep if you only one, assuming one does not care about subscribing. I subscribe to RadarScope, which is an awesome app.

 

[tamara6]

Why is RadarScope awesome? What makes it worth subscribing to? I have MyRadar and really like it.

 

[Azathoth123]

Which one would you keep if you only one, assuming one does not care about subscribing. I subscribe to RadarScope, which is an awesome app.

Dark Sky for the notifications.

 

[charks]

Why is RadarScope awesome? What makes it worth subscribing to? I have MyRadar and really like it.

Depends how much of a weather/radar geek you are. If you're looking for an app that provides the basic radar data and access to a daily forecast, then it seems like MyRadar is sufficient.

If you're super geeky and want the reflectivity, velocity, precipitation, dual-pol data from any National Weather Service radar in the country, along with official warning polygons, then RadarScope is worth every penny. I'm a meteorologist and by default super geeky, and RadarScope is by far the professional choice.

 

[DavidNelsonNM]

I have Dark Sky and Carrot - being a weather geek means you can't have too many. Ironically, it hasn't rained out here on the Navajo rez in like 5-6 weeks where I am alot, so I'm not even sure I've seen the Carrot complication pop up since I got it. (Hmm, hasn't rained since I got Carrot. Hmm.)

When I'm in the big city, the "rain in XX minutes" can be fairly accurate but if you're located more rural don't expect it to be. On the rez I'm 30 minutes from a town and that's where Dark Sky warns about. Microforecasting is the future but it ain't here yet.

On a side note: RadarScope, RadarScope, RadarScope. There is no 2nd place. I have it and MyRadar and there is no comparison in my eyes.