Astrospheric

I love this app! It is my go-to for checking the astronomy forecast. The free version provides a highly detailed forecast based on the Canadian weather model. The forecast is updated every 6 hours. The detailed forecast covers roughly the next three days. (The extended forecast goes out much farther but with fewer details and that is understandable because it is much more difficult to predict.) The 'Pro' tier (in-app purchase) combines two additional models to produce an "ensemble" forecast based on Canadian, North American, and European models (color coded so you know which model is forecasting clouds). I can't count the times I'd check a forecast, get the all-clear, and show up to a cloudy sky. Thanks to the ensemble forecast, if all forecasts agree that it will be clear ... you are probably in the clear. (The Pro tier is also ad-free) The ensemble forecast feature is also available to astronomy clubs and star parties at no cost if you qualify (that tier still has ads but you do get the ensemble forecasts). It is nice that the author extends this to clubs and star parties that do public outreach to share their passion for the night sky.

Astrospheric is an amazing weather app for astronomy and astrophotography enthusiasts. I have been using it for over three months, and the app tells me everything I need to know about sky and ground conditions (cloud cover, transparency, seeing, wind speed and direction, temperature, dew point, sun and moon rise/set times and elevation, moon phase details, etc). Tapping on any hour will give an estimated cloud cover map. Included are also various map layers like smoke, cloud, transparency, seeing, temperature, dew point, wind, etc as well as actual satellite imagery (IR, visible, water vapor, GOES-16). I also like the light pollution map that tells me how dark a location will be when I travel. Daniel Fiordalis, creator of the app, is an amateur astronomer and professional programmer, and you can appreciate all the love that went into creating this app. Thank You!!!

This is a pretty good app that gives you the big picture for planning astronomical viewing, however I do not like one aspect of it. The app opens with a location that is automatically selected near your current location, but it is off enough that you need to change it to your location by using a map or the forecasts might not be accurate. It does not remember your location when you start the app again and you must again manually select the correct location from a map. It then will tell you that you can save the location, but only if you provide them with your email address which is their way of compelling one to do that and enable the “favorites” to be available. I think that we should not have to provide our email address to set the home location and sort of sounds like blackmail to me.