Essential bookmarks
Tell us about your favourite meteorological sites via [email protected] 22 Jan - 4 Feb 2020^17
Weather Underground
If you’re wondering what the weather will be like today, Weather Underground gives
you a far more comprehensive and accurate answer than you’ll get from the BBC or
Met Office. Tell the site your location to see a host of useful information for the next
hour, day or 10 days – from the basics such as temperature, wind speed, general
outlook and how conditions compare to yesterday; to radar and satellite maps with
webcams, details of precipitation, air quality and pollen, a calendar view and even
astronomical data, including the percentage of the Moon that’s illuminated. The site
lists all the local weather stations it sources data from and lets you explore them on
its WunderMap. Just remember to change Fahrenheit to Celsius via the settings cog.
Windy
windy.comCreated by a self-confessed wind lover
for fellow wind enthusiasts, Windy is
a colourful animated map displaying
current weather conditions across the
world, as well as a forecast for the next
10 days. That may not sound particularly
exciting but the presentation is superb,
with a slick, simple design and some
brilliant features to complement its wind
focus. These include layers for rain and
thunder, temperature, clouds, waves, air
quality and much more, including
a hurricane tracker, satellite imagery,
a route planner for weather trackers,
integrated webcams and the ability to
create and share GIFs and videos of
Windy’s data. It’s also a breeze to use!Severe Weather
http://www.severe-weather.eu
With global temperatures climbing,
increasingly frequent flooding and
a worrying rise in bush and forest fires,
severe weather is rapidly becoming
the weather, and this site provides
detailed reports and analysis of the latest
events. Inviting visitors to “follow severe
weather as it happens. Anywhere. Any
time”, it’s updated several times a day,
and illustrates its information with
fascinating – if often alarming – charts,
satellite images and maps. Although
some sections of the site haven’t been
updated for a while, its social-media
feeds are buzzing with severe-weather
news and discussion, as well as stunning
photos and videos submitted by its
followers, and a weekly photography
contest.Dark Sky
darksky.net
Dark Sky is a weather site that’s easy to
navigate and delivers a flood of detailed,
accurate data, allowing you to skim the
surface or dive deep depending on the
level of forecast you’re after. As well as a
brief overview, range of stats and a clear
breakdown of the day’s weather, the site
offers brilliant 2D and 3D maps that let
you select a time and date, and view
visual precipitation forecasts, the UV
index, wind speeds, cloud cover, feels-like
temperature and more. Clicking a day
presents the mass of data plotted on to
timeline graphs and there’s a wonderful
Time Machine feature that shows you the
weather conditions in both the past and
the future. Dark Sky also offers excellent
apps for Android and iOS, and even
works on smartwatches.
ESSENTIAL BOOKMARKS THIS ISSUE: Wonderful weather sites
UK Snow Map
uksnowmap.comSo far, this winter has been more wet
than white but, with snow forecast in
many areas of the UK, this site can
tell you where it’s falling. Based on
the fact that it only takes a few
falling flakes for people to rush to
social media proclaiming “it’s
snowing!”, the site asks Twitter users
to include the hashtag #uksnow with
their location and a snow rating out
of 10 in their tweets, so it can plot
the info on a live map. Now entering
its 10th year, UK Snow Map is a
simple but useful idea that’s more
personal – and often more accurate- than standard weather reports,
especially as many contributors
share their snow photos and videos.
DON’T
MISS!