AppShopper

If you’re in the mid-Atlantic or northeastern US or have friends or family in these areas, you’re probably keeping tabs on the progress of Hurricane Sandy. As you’d expect, there are several apps to help you stay on top of the weather on your iPhone while you’re working on staying out of Sandy’s way or hunkering down to wait her out.

First up is a free offering from the Red Cross. Hurricane provides you with a plethora of information from steps to take to prepare for a hurricane and other useful tips to location-based alerts from the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Red Cross shelter locations, and the ability to send out notifications via email, text message, and social networks to your friends and family to let them know you’re safe.

• FreeBuy Now
  Weather
  

  Hurricane by American Red Cross

  Last Changed:

  18 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (111)

  Version:

  1.4

  iOS Universal

  **One of the top 6 hurricane tracking apps - CNN** **Readers’ Pick: Most innovative and useful hurricane app – FastCompany** **One of 5 apps to get you through a natural disaster – Fox News**...

If you want to actually watch the progress of Sandy or any other storm in excruciating detail, check out Base Velocity’s RadarScope. At $9.99, it’s a bit more expensive than other weather apps but it offers so much radar information it’ll make your head spin.

• $999Buy Now
  Weather
  

  RadarScope

  Last Changed:

  4 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (45)

  Version:

  2.0.2

  iOS Universal

  RadarScope is a specialized display utility for weather enthusiasts and meteorologists that allows you view NEXRAD Level 3 and super resolution radar data along with Tornado, Severe Thunderstorm,...

If you’d rather listen to relevant weather updates, most internet radio apps should let you access the NOAA radio stations but you can find them all in a single app if you’d rather not mess around. Christopher Coudriet’s NOAA Weather Radio puts more than 200 NOAA stations and broadcasts at your fingertips and offers push notifications of weather alerts plus forecast information and links to other online weather news sources.

• $199Buy Now
  Weather
  

  NOAA Weather Radio

  Last Changed:

  1 week ago

  Rating:

  4.00 (23)

  Version:

  7.1

  iOS iPhone

  LIMITED TIME SALE JUST $1.99! ENDS TODAY! NOAA Weather Radio is a PREMIUM NOAA WEATHER application to listen to over 200+ NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards Broadcasts. Get the latest Warnings,...

If you just want a general all-around weather app that can also give you alerts for severe storms, Vimov’s Weather HD is a good choice. Weather HD gives you forecast current conditions and forecast information in a pretty, animated interface that’s worthy of constant display when you have your iPhone docked on your desk. You can also opt to receive push notification alerts from the NOAA for severe weather issues in your area.

Weather HD is also on sale in celebration of Halloween, so it’s a good time to snap it up.

• $199Buy Now
  Weather
  

  Weather HD - Live Weather...

  Last Changed:

  8 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (1696)

  Version:

  2.2.0

  iOS Universal

  Weather HD depicts weather conditions using stunningly crafted set of videos (not just still images like other apps), displays animated NOAA radar map over beautiful unique 3D globe, warns you from...

Sandy’s wind and rain have been rattling the windows for most of the day but the electricity is still going strong in the part of Boston where I live but I’m fully expecting it to bite the dust shortly. If you’re in the path of Sandy, stay safe!

Though our focus is on back-to-school apps this month, I wanted to post a quick bit of news on an app we featured in July, Dark Sky, since it received a couple of key new features this week in an update. Dark Sky, which aims to offer more precise weather predictions for your exact location, can now give push notification alerts to let you know when it’s going to rain 15 minutes in advance and provides a radar view for the entire continental US.

The full list of what’s new in version 2.0.0 is as follows:

• Push Notifications. We’ll warn you before it rains! (still a bit experimental)
• National radar view. See all the storms in the country at once (amazing on the iPad)
• VoiceOver support for improved accessibility
• Better icon!
• Added the darksky://your%20location protocol for integration with third-party apps (e.g. Launch Center Pro), and link sharing
• Touch-and-hold on the map to change your forecast location
• A whole bucketful of bug fixes and performance improvements
• Ability to turn off “Clear Skies Are Boring” message
• Increased app version number by more than 51.5%!

A new toggle in the top right corner is where you can access the push notification settings to choose to turn on alerts, designate “do not disturb” hours so you can avoid interruptions during work or sleeping hours, and select the precipitation notification threshold.

In a blog post about the 2.0.0 update, Dark Sky’s developers describe that the alert feature is really still in beta and they’re asking for feedback if it doesn’t work the way you’d expect. A follow-up post today provides some answers to concerns they’ve heard from users about privacy and battery consumption. They’ve clarified that Dark Sky uses a less power-hungry mode, cell tower triangulation, to determine your location when the app is not active and that no information that can identify you to anyone other than Apple is transmitted with your location information.

The new alert feature was the main item on my wish list for a future update when I first looked at Dark Sky and it’s nice to see it implemented. Dark Sky still won’t replace Fahrenheit as my go-to weather app on my iPhone since it lacks more comprehensive forecast information but it’s getting there.

• $399Buy Now
  Weather
  

  Dark Sky - Weather Radar,...

  Last Changed:

  23 weeks ago

  Rating:

  3.50 (193)

  Version:

  2.0.5

  iOS Universal

  Version 2.0, with Push Notifications! Dark Sky will notify you before it starts raining wherever you are. Dark Sky can tell you at a glance exactly when it will rain (or snow) up to an hour in...

Even though I covered Dark Sky yesterday, I’d feel remiss if I didn’t mention a new entry in the Weather category in the iOS App Store, Solar by Hollr, Inc. Solar hit the App Store earlier this month and features a slick interface to fast-forward through the weather forecast for the current day and see forecast information and the current conditions for other saved locations.

In Solar, sliding your finger up the screen will fast-forward through the current day to show you the expected conditions for the next 24 hours, complete with an animated background to show any precipitation. Dragging downward will pull a 3-day forecast into view from the top of the screen. Pinching with two fingers will reduce the view to tiles for your current location and any other locations you save using the plus button in the top right corner. You can flick right and left to navigate through all of these tiles and tap on one to see its details.

Here’s a demo video showing Solar in action:

Solar is well-done and reminds me of Clear with its gesture-driven interface to carry out most actions. If you don’t need radar or more extensive and detailed forecast information, Solar is an excellent choice for a cool weather app that can showcase the iPhone and its capabilities. It’s on sale for a limited time at just $.99 to celebrate its release so get it now before the price goes up.

• FreeBuy Now
  Weather
  

  Solar : Weather

  Last Changed:

  6 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (4137)

  Version:

  1.2

  iOS iPhone

  ★★★★★ Free today - the most talked about app in weather, SOLAR ★★★★★ Featured on: Fast Company, Macworld, The Verge, Hypebeast, Gizmodo, Apartment Therapy, CoolHunting, &...

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the weather in the northeastern US after several years living in sunny California, it’s that weather conditions can change on a dime and ruin your plans with little notice, even in the summer. Fortunately, there are creative developers like Jackadam who are willing to help you maximize your time outdoors and avoid surprises from Mother Nature with Dark Sky for the iPhone and iPad.

Dark Sky promises more precise “minute-to-minute” predictions based on your location with a focus on the next hour to give meaningful short-term information to help you plan your outdoor activities. The app evaluates raw weather radar data and reprocesses it to remove the noise and give more accurate weather predictions. You can read more about how Dark Sky’s predicts weather in this blog post written by its developers.

I tested Dark Sky on a day when rain was expected to see how closely it would track the rain heading my way. Here’s the sequence of screen shots as I tracked the arrival of the brief storm.

At first, Dark Sky told me light rain would start in 25 minutes, then it revised prediction just five minutes later to say that is was now sprinkling and that rain would start in earnest in 20 minutes and last for 30 minutes. At that moment, I didn’t see any sprinkles but there were ominous clouds around and it was clear that it was going to rain.

It actually began to rain about 15 minutes later and this is what Dark Sky showed me then:

The rain did indeed continue for about 20 minutes and then stopped. A test on another day when rain was expected yielded a similar experience where Dark Sky predicted incoming weather within a 25-minute window with minor changes as time passed.

Predicting the exact start and stop times of any weather event is impossible to do perfectly but Dark Sky seems to be reasonably good in giving you a heads up about incoming inclement weather. However, it is missing a feature that would be key for me to keep Dark Sky on my iPhone: the ability to get push notifications to notify me of incoming rain.

For example, I like to walk my dog in the evening after work but sometimes other tasks get in the way and I don’t get to this until later than planned. Occasionally, rain cancels the walk entirely when I finally grab his leash and get ready to head out. (Before you suggest it, dragging a 125 lb Great Dane who hates water on a walk through the rain is incredibly difficult and entirely unpleasant for all involved.) If I’d known rain was coming in the next hour or so, chances are that I’d drop what I was doing and take the dog out right away to beat the rain.

Of course, some parameters around these alerts would be useful since I wouldn’t want or need to be notified every time it’s going to rain. A simple switch in the app to turn on a single notification to let me know of any upcoming rain one hour before it hits within the next four hours would be perfect for my use.

Dark Sky was borne out of Kickstarter, reaching its funding level in November 2011 and debuting in the App Store in April. It’s is a universal app for both the iPhone and iPad and costs $3.99. It works only in the US at this time since it uses information from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an American federal agency that monitors the oceans and atmosphere. If you’re in the US, it’s worth a buy to keep closer tabs on the weather as the summer vacation season winds down.

• $399Buy Now
  Weather
  

  Dark Sky - Weather Radar,...

  Last Changed:

  23 weeks ago

  Rating:

  3.50 (193)

  Version:

  2.0.5

  iOS Universal

  Version 2.0, with Push Notifications! Dark Sky will notify you before it starts raining wherever you are. Dark Sky can tell you at a glance exactly when it will rain (or snow) up to an hour in...