BBC Weather

The app often gets the current weather wrong. I have photos on my phone of the app showing clear sky and sun at my location but actual weather being 100% cloud and rain! Symbology is often incoherent. Black cloud when 20% chance of rain but white cloud when 25% chance of rain! Go figure! For example, a 30% chance of rain will have a rain cloud symbol but next to it (same location, same day) a 40% chance of rain will have a white cloud symbol. Which should I believe? It’s also difficult to update forecasts. Tapping the update icon results in a spinning icon for several seconds and then no update! Recently, the app has been displaying a 0% chance of rain. Such a forecast would need to be based on an extremely high confidence level, which would be odd for the UK, given its location and thus highly variable weather conditions. Needless to say, I have had rain where I live when the app has forecast a 0% chance of rain!

I’m surprised that this app scores so highly. Perhaps it’s simply that the user interface is so good (can’t knock it there), but from an accurate forecasting perspective, it is consistently inaccurate in my area. As a keen motorcyclist of a custom bike that is a nightmare to clean after a completely unexpected downpour, i have lost count of the amount of times I have set off from home on a day when the chance of rain is a single figures percentage, and got caught in a downpour just a few miles from home. And on the flip side, the number of outdoor social events/BBQ’s that have been cancelled due to forecasted rain in the high percentage ratios, that never arrived and was replaced by beautiful weather! And I’m not alone. I have several friends who have observed similarly inaccurate forecasts that have disrupted their plans entirely, usually within just 12-24 hours, which is probably the most frustrating aspect of the app. It’s pointless if you can’t rely on it to be accurate so close to the time that it suddenly alters entirely.

I loaded this after giving up on the Apple weather app, which is as reliable as a piece of seaweed. The information is from the met office, so it's the best forecast available, and is accurate over the next few days. I use it every day, and I get caught by unexpected rain less than once a month. It's detailed, with hourly summaries (temp., wind, rain probability) for 7 days in a neat display. It's also very localised, cities are broken into districts about 1 mile across. It will automatically give the forecast for your current position, but you can look up other UK locations, and store them if you want. The Met Office app uses the same data, but the interface is poor. Weather Radar can be useful to see predicted rain storm paths if you're going to be travelling.