There is almost an infinity of "apps" in the phone-&-tablet universe, resulting in almost an infinity of weather apps. The choices inevitably fall into three broad categories: excellent, abominable, and so-so. How you organize these categories is, obviously, entirely your own choice, but many hours of searching in app universe has indicated to me that most of us humans seem to have reasonably similar opinions regarding their composition.
Every developer naturally wishes to produce a product with some outstanding feature or features that distinguish it from all the competition. That is a formidable endeavor. NOAA Weather is not a canvass of photographic weather-journalism or a travelogue of the beauties of every city, village, and hamlet on the planet. My objection to these genres is that the background photos often obscure some or most of the text in the weather data, and although I love to travel and have done a good amount of it, that is not my goal or motivation when summoning a weather report. Very often, these apps are also burdened with multi-screen displays that must be "swiped" to read all their information; Yahoo! Weather is an excellent example. News reports are alright; I neither favor nor reject them, but they can be a distraction.
NOAA Weather takes a no-nonsense, frills-free, information-laden approach. The list of the cities you have chosen (if more than one) is displayed in the left one-third of the screen when in landscape mode, or is popped up when the current city, displayed at the top, is tapped in portrait mode. Each location also includes its geographical co-ordinates.
The remainder of the screen has nine rows, containing, in the first row, the "Current Conditions," which includes a small icon representing the weather, a brief description (e.g.: "Partly Cloudy," "Mostly Sunny," etc.), the temperature, and the wind direction and speed. The next row contains an icon and a very brief forecast for the remainder of the day and the expected low, and the remaining seven rows replicate the second row for the next seven days, and include both the expected low and high. Tapping on the first row pops up a detailed listing of Current Conditions (Temp, Feels Like, Humidity, Wind Speed, Wind Direction, Barometer, Dewpoint, Visibility, Sunrise, Sunset, and time of last update). Tapping the second row produces a brief forecast containing expected wind, rain, fog, etc., plus temperature and wind information. Tapping any of the remaining rows produces a brief day and night forecast for each day. All this information is displayed against medium-blue, dark-blue, or black backgrounds; the white and pale-grey lettering is very visible. Tapping on any row in the list of locations brings up the corresponding display for that location. If there are weather alerts or warnings for a location, a small red triangle containing a white exclamation mark appears in the lower-right-hand corner of the weather icon in the first row. Tapping that icon pulls up the complete NOAA weather-alert bulletin for that location, including winds, rains, storms, currents, and rip tides. The app is an excellent window into the NOAA weather-reporting system.
In fairness, this activity is admittedly very similar to the swiping mentioned above, but today and the next seven days are all in plain view, providing a quick rundown of the expected weather, and just one tap provides a brief forecast for each day. The only feature it lacks is a very brief description of each location's weather in the column of locations. That is important to me because I usually track eight locations simultaneously, and it is handy to be able to compare them quickly.
I like the app, and consult it every day.
(Note: The free version accepts no more than three locations in its locations list, but displays pop-up ads. The paid version accepts an unlimited location list and omits ads.)
NOAA Weather
3.9 | 418 ratings
Price: 1.99
Last update: 12-24-2024
Latest updates
What's new in version 2.14.3- v2.14.3
- * NOAA API change
- v2.13.0
- * Migration to new NOAA NowCOAST maps
Product Details
Release Date: 2012
Date first listed on Amazon: March 1, 2012
Developed By: N Studio
ASIN: B007FUOTCS
Customer reviews:
3.9 out of 5 stars419 customer ratings
3.9 out of 5 stars419 customer ratings
Developer info
- [email protected]
- http://graniteapps.net
- More apps by this developer
Product features
- Highly localized, Geo-located weather.
- Clean, fast, and easy to use design.
- Current weather conditions.
- Quick and detailed forecasts.
- Animated Radar.
Product description
NOAA Weather is not affiliated with NOAA or the National Weather Service. Products provided by NOAA are in the public domain, and this app's use of those products is compliant with NOAA/NWS terms of use.NOAA Weather provides forecasts, animated radar, hourly forecast, and current conditions, all in an intuitive and easy to use interface. Just the information you need, provided accurately, quickly, and for your exact location.
"A no-nonsense approach to show weather data on your phone, but done well and great looking" - Android Central
NOAA Weather uses NOAA point forecasts from your GPS location to get the most localized weather available. Point forecasts are great for climbing, hiking, skiing, or any outdoor activity where weather from a nearby city isn't accurate enough.
GPS on the phone will provide the most accurate location, but usually isn't needed. Nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi networks can also provide this information, and will be checked first to save time and battery. You can also enter a location manually.
To provided highly localized forecasting, NOAA Weather uses point forecasts from the National Weather Service (NOAA/NWS), and is therefore only available in the US.
Please contact me at [email protected] if you have any questions or problems.
This is the premium version and is 100% Ad free, and has no limitations.
NOAA Weather on Twitter
https://twitter.com/noaa_weather
User Data Privacy
Information not provided by the developer.
To learn more, visit the developer’s privacy policy.
Technical details
Size: 9.3MB
Version: 2.14.3
Developed By: N Studio
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Privacy Policy
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Application Permissions:
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Help me understand what permissions mean
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- ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION
- Access coarse (e.g., Cell-ID, Wi-Fi) location
- Access fine (e.g., GPS) location
- Access information about networks
- ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION
- FOREGROUND_SERVICE
- Open network sockets
- POST_NOTIFICATIONS
- Read from external storage
- Get notified that the operating system has finished booting
- Access the vibration feature
- PowerManager WakeLocks to keep processor from sleeping or screen from dimming
- Write to external storage
- Allows sending in-app billing requests and managing in-app billing transactions
- Allows an application to receive messages via Google Cloud Messaging
- Receive message via Amazon Device
- com.google.android.gms.permission.ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION
- com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID
- com.google.android.providers.gsf.permission.READ_GSERVICES
Minimum Operating System: Android 4.4
Approximate Download Time: Less than 90 seconds
Top reviews from the United States
Lew Miller
A well-thought-out, no-nonsense window into NOAA's weather forecasts
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2015
Korky
User friendly with reliable forecasting most of the time.
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2018
Long-Suffering Technology Consumer
Simple, easy to use weather app well worth paying for...
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2014
Camp Runamok
Best to buy the ad free version from the play store.
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2015
Space Cowgirl
Radar doesn't work! Not compatible with Kindle!
Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2021
T. Wicker
Great Mobile Weather App
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2014Bud Mills
Very Good Accurate App
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2015