![]() ![]() “We have implemented a new work paradigm for our forecasters called ‘over the loop,’ which enables our forecasters to be much more efficient in their jobs,” said a spokesperson for The Weather Company, which owns The Weather Channel and is part of IBM. Dark Sky didn’t respond to a request for comment on this story. Naturally, meteorologists don’t like this approach, and it didn’t perform as well as the larger companies in ForecastWatch’s analysis. Method matters too: popular app Dark Sky prides itself on being human-free. “But you’ll find it’s not usually as good as the forecasts from the large providers,” he said. Smaller providers often entirely rely on APIs and machine learning. “That takes a lot of resources, money and people and time and all that, so only the biggest providers have their own pipelines,” said Floehr. Sites like AccuWeather and use the federal government’s DICast forecasting system (or other proprietary ones) to make forecasts based on a number of models. ![]() In an another ForecastWatch analysis for 2015 to 2017, AccuWeather was the most accurate for precipitation and wind speed forecasts. Even then, it was only accurate 77.47% of the time in 2017. In a study of forecast accuracy between 20, ForecastWatch found The Weather Channel to be the most accurate. “Then dig in and see if they’re a provider that is consistently accurate.” “What I would suggest is that, if you have an app, ask them where they get their forecasts from or look in the about page and see how they’re getting their forecasts,” said Eric Floehr, founder of ForecastWatch, which analyzes the accuracy of weather apps and sites. It’s not that easy to track down just where some apps get their weather data from. ![]() Those minor discrepancies might not matter for mild weather, but when there are threats of flooding and severe thunderstorms in Charleston, South Carolina, getting accurate and complete information is crucial. But where exactly do these forecasts come from, and how do you know if you can trust them? Meteorology without meteorologistsĭepending on which app you use, it’s either 63, 64, or 66 degrees Fahrenheit in Seattle, with a 5%, 10%, or 34% chance of precipitation at 11 p.m. Most phones come with a built-in weather app, or you can buy ones that promise more accurate predictions with sleek and dynamic graphics. “And the problem is most people don’t use those apps except on the really bad weather days.” “On the bad days, when the weather is really serious, they can often be really badly wrong,” he said. Meteorologist Dan Satterfield isn’t a fan of many national weather apps. Fitbit Versa 3Īs we increasingly rely on apps for our forecasts, bad app info can cause major problems - more than just seeing two different temperatures on two different apps, weather experts say. ![]()
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