(Note: This is the first in a series of reviews of weather applications and webapps for the iPhone, which will culminate in a head-to-head comparison)
The weather application that most iPhone owners are familiar with is the one that comes with it. And while it can satisfy the need to know the most basic forecast details (sunny, rainy, etc), it certainly leaves many people wanting more information to help them better plan their day. Several web applications and iPhone applications have been written address this need – both for the casual user and those more meteorologically-minded. Today, we take a look at MyWeather.
THE BASICS
Like Apple’s weather app, MyWeather gives you a basic overview of the current conditions in the city of your choice (currently US only, with International support forthcoming). However, where Apple shows you one location at a time with the extended forecast for that city, MyWeather shows up to 6 scrollable locations and the forecast for the currently selected city.
Apple’s Weather App (left) and MyWeather (right)
The entry at the top of MyWeather’s list – “MyWeather” – represents the weather at the user’s current location (as determined by the iPhone’s Location Services – which, in turn, uses whatever combination of WiFi, cell tower triangulation, and GPS that your device supports and has available).
On the bottom of the screen is a 7-day scrollable forecast, for which 3 days are visible at a time. Flicking left or right changes which days are in view. Tapping the i icon between the top and bottom portions of the screen opens a settings page on which the displayed cities can be configured and the temperature preference (Fahrenheit or Celsius) can be chosen.
Some of MyWeather’s users have noticed that the “MyWeather” entry sometimes varies slightly from the forecast for the same city in the city list. Chuck Sholdt, Project Manager for MyWeather, explained to us that MyWeather derives its forecast data from their own highly granular forecast models that take into account terrain and other factors that influence weather conditions. Therefore, the readings at your location (your home, for example) may (and in reality, usually do) vary from the readings at the station that represents a given city (usually the local airport), which may be several miles away. What this means is that the temperature, for example, is more likely to reflect the actual temperature at your location rather than the temperature at the airport.
On the bottom of the screen are three tabs, which switch between Forecast, Trends, and Radar.
TRENDS
Trends give you a 12 hour forecast of temperature and sky conditions, wind, and precipitation. Again, flicking to the left or right changes which of the three views are displayed. Tapping on the hour at the bottom of the screen changes the forecast display to that hour. (Click for a larger view)
RADAR
The crown jewel of MyWeather is the radar support. Tapping on the Radar tab brings up a looping radar image 
superimposed on a Microsoft Virtual Earth satellite view, focused on the city that is selected in the city display.
The radar view is both scrollable and zoomable using the same drag, pinch, unpinch, and double-tap actions as the iPhone’s Google Maps application, however, single tapping with two fingers does not zoom out the view as it does in Google Maps. In practice, the double-tap zoom was inaccurate, a problem that the folks at MyWeather are aware of. The map is loaded in tiles, much like Google Maps, and was roughly the same speed. I tested the app under WiFi, 3G, and Edge and was pleased with the response of the app on each.
Two squares appear on the map; an orange square shows the location of the currently selected city (very handy when displaying the location-aware “MyWeather”), and a yellow square shows any other city from your list that is also in the current view. MyWeather plans to include your current position in a future version.
SIDE VIEW
After a few minutes of zooming in the Radar view, it quickly becomes apparent that such a tiny viewing area is not sufficient for anything but a quick glance to see if any rain is headed your way. Fortunately, MyWeather has a trick up its sleeve. Rotating your iPhone sideways causes the radar view to take up the full screen and give you the best presentation of weather radar available for the iPhone today.
You can zoom in or out essentially just as much as you can with Google Maps, all the way from the entire US down to an individual street:
(More radar images appear at the end of the article)
WHAT’S NEEDED
MyWeather lacks a few features that would fulfil its promise as a full-featured weather app and as the best mobile radar app available.
Detailed Forecasts: Sometimes “chance of showers” doesn’t cut it. Is it a 20% chance or a 80% chance? And what about a day that begins with a chance of showers, becomes sunny in the afternoon, and overcast in the evening? MyWeather would do well to provide more detailed forecasts as other competing apps do.
International Support: Slated to appear in a forthcoming release.
Radar Opacity: Map details become tough to discern underneath the radar overlay, making it difficult sometimes to locate a city or street. A control to adjust this (preferably on the fly), is needed.
Map View: Currently a satellite view is all that is available. Having a map view would both make many radar views easier and faster to load.
Still Frames: The constantly looping radar images can be distracting, especially when zoomed well in. The ability to stop the animation (and if it’s not too much to ask, the ability to go back/forward frame by frame?) is almost a necessity.
THE NEXT LEVEL?
MyWeather has done an excellent job of providing both the basic weather data that the majority of us need plus the more advanced features (such as the excellent radar support) that weather buffs, emergency personnel, and those who work outdoors will appreciate.
That being said, it would not take much for this application to rival and even surpass in some ways many of the advanced weather applications for desktops. Here’s a wishlist of sorts that would help get MyWeather to that level:
- Weather satellite overlays
- Other radar products (such as storm cell tracking and attributes, storm total rainfall, and echo tops)
- Watch/Warning outline “boxes” (such as for severe thunderstorms and tornados) with the ability to display the text of the watch/warning
- Alerts for watches/warnings issued for your current location and for your preconfigured cities
- GPS tracking support, to scroll the map as you move
- Scale legends showing the level of radar return (and the total rainfall and echo top heights of the other views in the wishlist item above)
- Date & time on each radar frame
CONCLUSION
MyWeather delivers what it promises and does it very well, delivering the best weather radar thus far for the iPhone. The company impressed me both with their enthusiastic promises of new features (that were mostly derived from customer feedback, they say) and their “how to” & support web site. I have little doubt that anyone will regret what at first glance seems to be a steep price for the application but in the long run may turn out to be a genuine bargain.
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Critical Info
Developer: MyWeather
Availability: iTunes App Store (Weather Category)
Price: $14.99
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IMAGE GALLERY
(Click on the thumbnails for a full-size version)
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