Inaccurate Weather forecast in Weather app

[dmfresco]

The MacOS and iOS weather app, after cannibalizing Dark Sky, is shockingly inaccurate with our forecast. Here in Michigan, we had a bad ice storm last week. Instead of predicting ice, the Apple Weather app predicted something like 21 inches of snow. The Apple generated forecast was also discrepant with the National Weather Service storm warning that was issued, that was much more predictive of what transpired.

We have another weather event scheduled for Friday. Most other services are predicting a mix of snow and rain. Apple is predicting 13 inches of wintry mix.

What gives? The Apple Weather app before gobbling up Dark Sky was accurate. Dark Sky was awesome and now is supposedly embedded in the new Weather app, but they are grossly misrepresenting precipitation expected amounts. I really dislike the weather channel app, but I don't feel I can trust Apple's Weather app. How can we prevail on Apple to fix this serious flaw?

 

[mnsportsgeek]

A week ago we had a storm roll through that was entirely rain and Apple predicted 20" of snow. We got 0". It was an inch of rain.
Two days ago it predicts another dumping. What'd we get? Half inch of rain.
Friday we have one coming in that is going to be mostly rain again and here Apple weather is predicting 8" of snow?

It's just absolutely awful at precipitation projections. What's even the point if you're gonna be that far off? My group chat has been mocking the forecast every couple days. It's way off every other forecast and always wrong.

 

[minimo3]

I paid for the original Dark Sky app and would gladly pay another $10 just to get the dark sky app + service back.

 

[dmfresco]

Here is the NWS statement from the MacOS Weather app and the expected accumulation forecasted by Apple Weather. Progress? It's only discrepant by ~50%.

 

[redbeard331]

A week ago we had a storm roll through that was entirely rain and Apple predicted 20" of snow. We got 0". It was an inch of rain.
Two days ago it predicts another dumping. What'd we get? Half inch of rain.
Friday we have one coming in that is going to be mostly rain again and here Apple weather is predicting 8" of snow?

It's just absolutely awful at precipitation projections. What's even the point if you're gonna be that far off? My group chat has been mocking the forecast every couple days. It's way off every other forecast and always wrong.

That’s what happens when they buy the worst weather app just because it was popular with nerds.

 

[orionquest]

So this is going the way of Apple Maps....

 

[mnsportsgeek]

We got 7 inches of snow last night. Apple says I got 11.

 

[minimo3]

The weather app said we would get 11” we got 1”. Not too bad right

 

[BugeyeSTI]

The precipitation map rarely works for me. Usually it shows a blank widget or when your on the actual map screen it shows no precipitation even though it's raining or a blank square around your location and precipitation around it..

 

[yellowroom]

I loved Dark Sky as I found it extremely accurate for predicting the weather in the next hour. In particular the precipitation, down to the minute on when it would start to rain. Very useful when out and about here in the UK.

The new Apple weather app is an abomination and the radar screen (when it’s working) has a weird blip in that it shows the radar for the past, and as soon as it reaches “now” and starts showing predicted precipitation, the clouds always move north north east. I’m watching weather coming at me from the east (or whatever direction) and they abruptly change direction. Utterly ridiculous.

 

[iFone88]

Hello Weather is your friend.....

 

[shenfrey]

Get yourself Carrot weather and you're done.

 

[Sheldonsmith]

I use Windy as it allows you to select the European ECWMF weather modeling system that is recognized by meteorologists as being far more accurate than models used in the states. Rainfall and rain prediction from 7-10 days out are accurate, although it’s a little aggressive on temperature (shows colder than than actual).

 

[Vitruvian Male]

The MacOS and iOS weather app, after cannibalizing Dark Sky, is shockingly inaccurate with our forecast. Here in Michigan, we had a bad ice storm last week. Instead of predicting ice, the Apple Weather app predicted something like 21 inches of snow. The Apple generated forecast was also discrepant with the National Weather Service storm warning that was issued, that was much more predictive of what transpired.

We have another weather event scheduled for Friday. Most other services are predicting a mix of snow and rain. Apple is predicting 13 inches of wintry mix.

What gives? The Apple Weather app before gobbling up Dark Sky was accurate. Dark Sky was awesome and now is supposedly embedded in the new Weather app, but they are grossly misrepresenting precipitation expected amounts. I really dislike the weather channel app, but I don't feel I can trust Apple's Weather app. How can we prevail on Apple to fix this serious flaw?

I find the iOS Weather app is horrible. Living in South Florida, and having been one of the initial users of Dark Sky, the extended weather forecasting capability was incredibly accurate and useful, especially during hurricane season. The iOS weather app only provides a maximum of 12 hour forecasting and the interface is sketchy, not providing a consistent representation of weather movements. Dark Sky was very functional, Apple is becoming like IBM where good software went to die.

The iOS developers need to wake up and smell the coffee, because frankly the iOS Weather app stinks!

 

[Moakesy]

I wonder if this is country specific?

Here in the UK it is much better than before. It’s very accurate and my Apple watch notifications of rain stopping / starting in ‘x’ minutes is useful when it’s time to walk the dog.

I never use any other weather service now. Before the new app came out, it used to be awful.

 

[contacos]

Also pretty bad here in Germany. It always shows rain and cloudy in Berlin but it’s hardly the case and much better than it shows

 

[iFone88]

I wonder if this is country specific?

Here in the UK it is much better than before. It’s very accurate and my Apple watch notifications of rain stopping / starting in ‘x’ minutes is useful when it’s time to walk the dog.

I never use any other weather service now. Before the new app came out, it used to be awful.

I came in here to say this.

I'm in the UK and have been using Apple Weather for a week or so after noticing that Hello Weather using Apple's data.

I have found it to be extremely accurate. Rain fall in X minutes is almost pin point accurate

 

[TonyC28]

My Apple Watch and iPhone are not in agreement about the weather. For the record it was a beautiful day today, no storms around.

 

[DotCom2]

Weather App in iOS is still WAYYY off in my area of southern Calif. WTH!

 

[TheGeneralist]

For me it's quite simple (Midwest Germany):
Some years ago Apple Weather was plainly the best mobile weather service you could get - spot-on most of the time.
Then they changed weather providers, and now it is mostly so wrong that it's better not to use it at all - despite its really nicely designed UI and all, it is - and remains - just completely useless.

 

[DotCom2]

For me it's quite simple (Midwest Germany):
Some years ago Apple Weather was plainly the best mobile weather service you could get - spot-on most of the time.
Then they changed weather providers, and now it is mostly so wrong that it's better not to use it at all - despite its really nicely designed UI and all, it is - and remains - just completely useless.

It's been fine in my area until just recently. Something must have happened/changed?

 

[TonyC28]

I’ve been enjoying these forecasts lately. When it’s going to get hot Apple thinks it’s going to get reallllly hot. I’m in the Chicago suburbs.

 

[skottichan]

I'm pretty sure Weather connects through the Weather Channel's info. Which can be wildly different than the US Weather Service at times.

Just 2 weeks ago, Weather Channel/Apple said we would be getting trace amounts of rain overnight, we got a massive thunderstorm.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Apple Weather has been so bad, my wife and I went back to Carrot Weather. So nice using something accurate again. Just to clarify, you can choose your data source with Carrot Weather.

Use https://forecastadvisor.com/ to find out what weather forecast company is the most accurate for your area. For us it is Foreca. So we use Carrot Weather and have Foreca as the data source.

Been so much better. Sure it costs a little but... imo worth it.

I think too, based on my own observations and opinion - seems like weather has been a lot more variable than normal. Still, you'd think with all the computing power we have today, this wouldn't come as a surprise to us.

Carrot data sources ^

 

[Expos of 1969]

Apple Weather has been so bad, my wife and I went back to Carrot Weather. So nice using something accurate again. Just to clarify, you can choose your data source with Carrot Weather.

Use https://forecastadvisor.com/ to find out what weather forecast company is the most accurate for your area. For us it is Foreca. So we use Carrot Weather and have Foreca as the data source.

Been so much better. Sure it costs a little but... imo worth it.

I think too, based on my own observations and opinion - seems like weather has been a lot more variable than normal. Still, you'd think with all the computing power we have today, this wouldn't come as a surprise to us.

View attachment 2251719
Carrot data sources ^

I started using the free version of Carrot a month or two ago. Foreca is a private Finnish company and located only a couple of kilometers from my home. The forecasting has been very accurate and very helpful as we have had a lot of off and on rain lately. It is proving to be more accurate than the Finnish national weather service. I am a happy convert.