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The Best Weather Sites

posted by on January 24, 2022 in Travel, Phones and Mobile, Mobile Apps, Travel & Entertainment, Guides & Reviews, Top Picks :: 64 comments


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The first thing I do in the morning is to check the weather forecast. With the recent wacky weather, I need to be armed with the forecast to head off the inevitable complaints from my boys when I hand out hats and gloves.

Weather sites these days deliver much more than just the high and low temperatures and whether you need an umbrella or gloves. They provide hyper-local, minute-by-minute precipitation graphs, emergency weather alerts, and air quality information, including allergen reports. And accessing the sites via your computer (versus the associated apps on your phone), will provide better access to the rich data maps that the best sites provide.

There are many weather sites to choose from, so I spent the last few weeks visiting weather sites to find the ones that deliver the best experience based on forecast accuracy, design, and depth of information. I found four weather sites that met my criteria and which I would highly recommend: The Weather Channel, AccuWeather, Weather Underground, and Dark Sky. For most people, The Weather Channel provides the at-a-glance information you need with rich data and interesting weather stories. Specifically, here’s what I considered.

Forecast Accuracy

Weather forecasts are based on data that is collected by weather stations and other sources from around the world. That information is fed into supercomputers that generate the forecast based on weather models. The best weather sites use weather models with accuracy rates that hover around 85 percent. For any given location, though, one site's weather model may have better local data than another. This is especially true for sites that include data from personal weather stations.

According to research by Forecast Watch, a company that tracks forecast accuracy, The Weather Channel (aka Weather.com) and AccuWeather consistently rank at the top for forecast accuracy in the United States. However,  Dark Sky and Weather Underground also consistently rank highly and may have more local data for your area (the list below shows forecast accuracy for Lewiston, ME). You can see who ranks highly in your area at Forecast Watch's ForecastAdvisor.

ForecastWatch ForecastAdvisor showing  a list of the sites that had the most accurate forecasts for Lewiston, ME, in 2021.

Design

The best sites let you see the day’s forecast at a glance, including temperature highs and lows, how cold it feels (the “real feel”), and whether you’ll need an umbrella later in the day. If there is dangerous weather in your area, a weather advisory is clearly visible.

All of the best sites have graphical elements that clue you in immediately about important weather information. The temperature, precipitation and any weather alerts are hard to miss. 

The Weather Channel has a clean graphical interface that clearly shows the current temperature, the day's high and low temperatures, an icon for precipitation, and any weather advisories in the main weather box. Below, you'll find the precipitation forecast if relevant. As you scroll down the page, you can dig deeper into the forecast.

The Weather Channel has a clean graphical interface that clearly shows the current temperature, the day's high and low temperatures, an icon for precipitation, and any weather advisories in the main weather box. Below, you'll find the precipitation forecast if relevant. And then as you scroll down the page, you can dig deeper into the forecast. 

The AccuWeather main local weather page has a slight edge over The Weather Channel, with its very prominent weather alert bar, as well as including RealFeel Shade temperature, wind speed, and air quality in the main weather box. There's no need to scroll for more. I also like the color coded precipitation graph, which clearly shows how heavy the precipitation is. If it's rain, you'll see shades of  green through red. For snow, it's not as obvious, but there are shades of blue.

The AccuWeather main local weather page has a slight edge over The Weather Channel, with its very prominent weather alert bar, as well as including RealFeel Shade temperature, wind speed, and air quality in the main weather box. There's no need to scroll for more. I also like the color coded precipitation graph, which clearly shows how heavy the precipitation is. If it's rain, you'll see shades of  green (light rain) through red (heavy rain). For snow, it's not as obvious, but there are shades of blue.

Weather Underground packs a lot of data into a small box, with the current temperature, the current

Weather Underground packs a lot of data into a small box, with the current temperature, the current  "feels like" temperature, low and high temperatures for the day, wind speed and direction, the radar map, snapshot forecasts for the day, night and next day, as well as an overview of Coronavirus confirmed cases and deceased in the county. It's so dense that the details don't pop as much. The weather advisory is at the top of the page before the ad, so you see if first, but may just scroll by. 

Dark Sky has a clean look with the weather advisory in a prominent red color with the temperature, precipitation,

Dark Sky has a clean look with the weather advisory in a prominent red color with the temperature, precipitation, "feels like" temperature, daily low and high temperatures, and short written forecast easily accessible. The graph showing precipitation has movement and really catches your eye. The color-coded hourly forecast is easy to read. 

Most weather sites have ads, which appear on the page and, occasionally and annoyingly, pop up over the content or in between pages as you browse. Dark Sky is the only free site on my list that doesn’t have any ads. The Weather Channel, AccuWeather and Weather Underground all have ads, but there are few pop up ads. The Weather Channel offers an option to go ad-free with a premium subscription ($4.99 per month or $29.99 per year).

Weather maps

For those that want a deeper dive into the data, some sites offer a range of map data beyond the standard radar map. The Weather Channel and Weather Underground, which are both owned by The Weather Company, have the richest sets of map data. However, The Weather Channel's map has more data sets to view than Weather Underground and the interface is easier to use and read.

The overall best weather site: The Weather Channel

The Weather Channel local weather page showing the current conditions and high and low temperatures plus the weather advisory in the main box. Below is Today's forecast with Morning, Afternoon, Evening and Overnight conditions. Below that is a row of weather-related videos. In the right bar is a Covid-19 tracker and Air Quality Index

Techlicious Top Pick award logo with the text: Easy-to-read, accurate forecasts with the ability to dig deep into the data,The Weather Channel is the best weather site for most people, offering an accurate forecast that’s easy to read, high-quality weather-related news, and an interactive map that is easy to use and delivers a lot of detailed information. While there are ads, they don’t significantly detract from the viewing experience, and you can choose to go ad-free with a premium subscription ($4.99 per month or $29.99 per year).

Forecast Watch consistently ranks The Weather Channel among the top three for weather forecast accuracy, making it a good choice for your local weather and when traveling. I like the fact that there is a favorite cities bar at the top of the page that automatically populates as you search for weather, so you can easily toggle between places. And, it’s easy to remove a city once it’s no longer a top priority. If there is an active weather advisory, there is a colored circle (yellow, orange, or red) with the number of advisories that is available on all pages. And if you want a detailed look at what to expect in the next hours, the Hourly page provides forecasts at 15-minute increments for an hour for the free service and up to two hours for the premium service. 

The Weather Channel hourly forecast page showing temperature, feels like temperature, UV index, precipitation, wind speed, humidity and snow amount. Forecasts are in 15-minute increments.

The Weather Channel has an easy-to-use interactive map that lets you take a deep dive into weather data, including information from personal weather stations in your area. Choose your map style from light, dark, satellite or grayscale. Then choose the main map layer from radar, clouds, temperature, wind speed, dew point, UV index, infrared satellite, driving difficulty and more. After that, you can add other other data like dew point, humidity, temperature, precipitation, and wind, among others. You can also toggle on sightings of local area lightning and wildfires, turn on official marine, flood, tornado, and other official watches and warnings, view storm tracks, and data collected from personal weather stations. If you pay for a premium subscription, you can also access 24-hour future radar, a 30-mile lightning map layer, and windstream data (the screenshot below shows the premium service). 

The Weather Channel radar map showing the menu for map layers and the player for seeing the forecast. Options shown are Hurricane Tracker, Lightning, Local Storm Reports.

As a weather news outlet, The Weather Channel offers timely weather stories and videos. Plus, there’s a whole section devoted to beautiful and interesting photos. The depth of weather news is greater than other weather sites.

The Weather Channel does the best job of providing both quick at-a-glance weather information and more in-depth content, making it my top pick for the best weather site.  

The best weather site for hyperlocal forecasts: AccuWeather

AccuWeather local forecast page showing a weather advisory in a red bar at the top with the conditions, temperature, RealFeel Shade temperature, air quality, wind gusts and minutecast precipitation forecast in the main weather box. Below is a box with the current air quality with a Fair rating and a numberic raing. To the right is a bar with top weather stories

Techlicious Editor's Choice award logo with the text: The best choice for hyperlocal forecastsOf all the weather sites, AccuWeather does the best job of delivering your local forecast. Like The Weather Channel, AccuWeather consistently ranks within the top three sites for forecast accuracy. In addition, it has a proprietary forecasting tool that provides a highly-precise hyperlocal near-term forecast, which AccuWeather calls Minutecast. Through Minutecast, you’ll to-the-minute predictions of any weather that’s expected in the next 120 minutes. So, if you want to know if you have time to walk the dog before the rain starts, Minutecast provides a quick answer.

Finding your local forecast is just a matter of searching. Once you’ve searched for a location, it will appear as a suggested location when you return, making it easy to click into your local forecast. AccuWeather’s local forecast page has a clean, easy-to-read design. There you’ll find an overview of the day’s weather, a weather alert from Minutecast if there’s precipitation expected in the next 120 minutes, and you’ll see how the temperature feels in the shade as well as the sun.

AccuWeather’s maps are limited to radar, satellite, current conditions (meaning temperature), and severe weather (which you can top into to see the alert). Like The Weather Channel, you can view past weather as well as the predicted weather.

Accuweather maps show a radar map of the New York area.

AccuWeather provides detailed air quality data, including the level of particulate matter at two sizes (less than 10 micrometers and less than 2.5 micrometers), nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ground-level ozone. You can also view air quality maps and an hourly air-quality forecast.

For news, AccuWeather has a blog that’s written by its staff of weather experts, which range in specialties from regional weather to astronomy and climate change. You’ll also find videos produced by AccuWeather and taken from across the web. The selection isn’t as deep as The Weather Channel, but there’s plenty to watch.

If you’re looking for the best at-a-glance short-term local forecast, AccuWeather is the best. The site has a clean (though ad-supported) interface and gets you in and out armed with exactly what you need for the day.

If you need access to specific weather stations: Weather Underground

Weather Underground local forecast page with the current temperature, high and low temperatures, feels like temperature, wind speed and gusts, precipitation forecast. Below are show forecasts for Today, Tonight and Tomorrow with the temperature, chance of precipitation and a short description of the forecast.

If you need to now the weather on the top of a ski mountain, along the coast where you will be boating, or near a field for your son's afternoon soccer game, Weather Underground is the best choice for you. The site will automatically pull from weather stations near your current location, but you can select Change next to the weather station name and select any station from its database of more than 250,000 sites. I've used the feature to check the conditions at the top of the mountain when skiing and the forecast for the tiny island where we vacation in Maine. In many locations, especially more rural areas, Weather Underground is ranked highly by Forecast Watch.

Finding your local forecast is as easy as allowing the site to see your location and pull up the nearest station, or you can search for your city. If you regularly check the weather in a variety of locations, you can create a Favorite Cities list. Your local forecast will show the forecast for the day and local radar. Weather advisories show up in a bar at the top of the page.

Weather Underground screenshot showing a map with the location of weather stations you can choose for your local forecast.

The interactive weather map on Weather Underground, called the Wundermap, lets you access a variety of weather information, including temperature, wind speed and direction, dew point and humidity, and precipitation. You can also toggle on storm tracks, lightning, and active wildfires, among other data. You can look at current, past, and future readings as a video showing changes over time. 

Weather Underground: interactive map showing data that you can layer on the map. From the Weather Stations data, you see Temperature/Wind selected among Temperature, Dew Point/Humidity and Precipitation. At the bottom of the map you can see a play button to show the forecast over time.

Specialized forecasts are limited to Pollen, air quality, and UV index, which you can find right below the local forecast. Clicking on any rating will take you to a page with pollen data broken down into types of pollen, a map that shows fine particulate matter readings and UV risk based on skin type.

Weather Underground staff produces some weather news stories and videos, plus it pulls content in from The Weather Channel. You won’t find the depth that The Weather Channel has, but you will find plenty of stories and videos to keep you up to date.

If you want to know where your weather data is being collected, or want to use your own weather station, Weather Underground provides the best combination of an easy-to-read forecast with rich weather data and news when you want more information.

The cleanest interface for those who hate ads: Dark Sky

Dark Sky home screen with the location at the top, the next line has wind, humidity, dew point, UV index, visibility, and pressure. The next line shows a Winter Weather advisory in red. The next line shows the temperature with a graphic of snow, the word snow and the feels like temperature, low temperature and high temperature. The next line has the general daily forecast. The next line has a graphic showing light snow for the next 50 minutes.The next line is a graphic show the forecast by hour using colors to show snow, clouds, overcast. At the bottom is a precipitation map with wind speed.

For a clean, ad-free weather site experience, Dark Sky delivers the best experience. The site, which was acquired by Apple in March 2020, has a spartan design that uses text, colors, and icons to deliver your local forecast in a compelling way. Dark Sky isn’t as consistently ranked for weather forecast accuracy as The Weather Channel and AccuWeather, but it does rank well in many locations, so be sure to check your location on ForecastAdvisor.

On your local forecast page, you’ll find your daily forecast, UV index, information on notable upcoming weather (such as rain or severe weather), a moving graphic of any forecasted precipitation, and your local temperature map. Weather advisories show up as red text above your forecast.

The weather temperature map on your local forecast page can be changed to show cloud cover, precipitation radar, wind speed, ozone, dew point, and more. The maps don’t move, but you can select different times of day and dates to see how the weather will change.

Dark Sky website screenshot showing a temperature map and a pull down menu with the options

Dark Sky doesn’t provide any specialized forecasts or news stories and related videos.

If you’re looking for a free ad-free visually-clean forecast, Dark Sky is the right site for you. It doesn’t have the resources of the other sites on my list, but when all you need is the forecast, you can be in and out in seconds.

Re-evaluated weather websites and updated the story on 1/24/2022

[Image credit: screenshots via Techlicious, dog with umbrella via BigStockPhoto]

For the past 20+ years, Techlicious founder Suzanne Kantra has been exploring and writing about the world’s most exciting and important science and technology issues. Prior to Techlicious, Suzanne was the Technology Editor for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and the Senior Technology Editor for Popular Science. Suzanne has been featured on CNN, CBS, and NBC.


Discussion loading

Fie on weather.com

From Rich Moser on May 23, 2013 :: 5:45 pm

I’ve been following weather.com AND the Weather Channel (same company) for years. On TV, they’re good, but you have to wait for the info you want. Online is a different story. The site navigates *very* poorly and there is absolutely zero customer service (believe me, I’ve tried!). In my California location, they are really quite awful in their forecasting accuracy, worse that most, and they are very slow to update—as in, it’s 70 and sunny outside right now but they still say that there’s a 70% chance of rain and will be cloudy all day, which was their forecast yesterday.

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no update

From javid on March 20, 2014 :: 3:14 am

you r right.

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Weather.com needs to weather and not TV station.

From Mark Leavitt on January 25, 2015 :: 6:29 pm

How this site gets on any list is mind baffling, I ditto all the comments above but in addition, weather.com needs to pull back in the reins and offer a simple, navigational web site with less adds getting in the way. Stop using he web site like the weather channel.  They got stuff all over the place and to find a chart for your particular area, it’s hunt for a needle in a haystack or looking for the Lost Arc.  It’s usually buried in a video article along with 5+ other charts of useless information.

In addition, I find local weather channels do the same thing, finding information is supposed to be fast and easy, instead they load the web site with so much junk including video after video (and ads), it becomes slow due to long running scripts on the web page. 

Personally, I skip all of it and just go to NOAA and to get the latest via National Weather Bulletins (just read the SIMPLE text) and head over (if need be) to AccuWeather to get detail info in 2-3 clicks.  About 1 min or less of my time versus 5+ minutes roaming around in Weather.com.

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Well how about thus list

From Angel Love on October 29, 2016 :: 7:12 pm

Try thr s…t list. Godd one for they can go for the worst

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Totally agree!!!

From Suzanne on October 04, 2018 :: 7:02 am

I used to love The Weather Channel, but now it’s more junk and ads than weather and takes forever to come up. Very disappointing.

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I absolutely agree and am looking for a GOOD weather site

From Janet on February 01, 2019 :: 8:25 pm

I HATE the fake news and scam websites that are on the weather.com site!!  I am hoping I can actually find a legitimate non-greedy site.

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Others

From Dennis Chandler on May 23, 2013 :: 6:38 pm

Intellicast is where I go if there is severe weather.  The radar summary gives you cloud heights, speed, and direction, and the severe storm 1 km storm watch will pinpoint thunderstorms and tornadic activity with direction and windspeed.

Here is how OK looks:
http://www.intellicast.com/Storm/Severe/OneKM.aspx?location=USTX0203&animate=true

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Which site has fewest pop-ups and fastest load?

From Kristy on May 23, 2013 :: 6:53 pm

Thanks for the weather site review.  What would be even more valuable for me is to know which site leaves the fewest cookies, loads the fastest, and delivers the fewest pop-up ads.  I used to use weather.com, but it seems to work very slowly. I’m looking for a simple place to get weather without a lot of advertising overhead.  Any inputs are welcome!  Thanks.

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That's why I tried to create a fast and reliable site

From Hernán on February 18, 2015 :: 8:31 pm

As you say, many weather sites are bloated with ads and so many useless information that they become painfully slow. And that’s why I created my own site: lightweight and mobile friendly. Please give it a try ( http://temperaturetoday.in/ ) and let me know your suggestions and comments.
I would like to keep it simple, but I want to hear opinions and I am still building it.
PS: If it doesn’t find your city use the address like http://temperaturetoday.in/your-city
Regards!

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Any for Canada?

From kitblu on May 23, 2013 :: 6:58 pm

None of these sites look as if they cover Canada. Do you know of any?

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Best weather sites

From Rob Nugent on May 23, 2013 :: 11:41 pm

iMapWeather.com is very good and has a lot of simple options.
It is also interactive with some of the same tools you see your weather men use on TV.
Plus, it shows you locations of storm chasers that are feeding/streaming content and you can click on one and watch their feeds.
All in all, one of the best on the web.

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Different Apps

From Patricia on May 24, 2013 :: 10:14 am

Is it possible for some of the apps out there to be used on my PC?  I am not very wise to all of this stuff but I can see where some of these apps might be helpful on my pc.  Thank you for your time and all the wonderful information you put out there for us.

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Weatherbug

From Linda Graham on June 15, 2018 :: 11:04 am

I have WeatherBug on my desktop and laptop; I’ve used it there for years.  I currently have a problem with it on my iphone, however; I’m getting a “We’ve updated our terms of use and privacy” message whenever I open it and that’s as far as it will open.  No problems with the computer app, nowever.  I like it because it ties in with school science departments for local weather input and my nearest reporting station is only 4 miles from my home.

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Try reinstalling?

From Josh Kirschner on June 15, 2018 :: 1:38 pm

You may just want to try uninstalling the app and reinstalling it. That will clear out the old cache and may get you past that issue.

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Seriously??

From VV on December 06, 2014 :: 4:05 pm

I am here because Weather.com on my computer overnight became ... “drywall”!  We all look for reliable information, whatever the costs!
Providing no information whatsoever because you can not design universal interace platform for the delvery of the information (flashy adds are a separate issue) - that is not just “not the best” - that is the worst, sheer incompetence!

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another cool

From Leaverk Vands on December 26, 2014 :: 11:40 am

I think this is amazing idea show weather as color like this colorweather.com

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Weather.com? Seriously?

From Ed on October 28, 2016 :: 10:59 am

That’s got to be the WORST weather site available.

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Our top pick is currently

From Suzanne Kantra on October 28, 2016 :: 2:48 pm

Our top pick is currently the Accuweather app. See our more recent story https://www.techlicious.com/guide/best-weather-apps-for-iphone-and-android/

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Worst

From Angel on October 29, 2016 :: 7:19 pm

Worst list:weather.com,accuweather.com,weatherchannel.com (which you cannot get anymore unkess you get cable)

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They're all bad!

From Steve on May 31, 2017 :: 3:01 pm

There are no good weather sites. The gov site is ok, but they don’t offer any hourly details. They say morning, afternoon, tonight - all of which is very vague.

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Really!

From Fran Wallace on August 26, 2017 :: 5:59 pm

Have been watching Harvey and cannot quite believe Ccollege Station hass had less than half an inch of rain when I see the maps and my son tells me it has rarely stopped raining. But that is what my site says!

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This is what I have been using

From Jake on September 05, 2017 :: 10:48 pm

windy.com

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android

From Leslie Howey on May 18, 2018 :: 11:17 am

I use an android app called 1Weather and I have been VERY satisfied with it for several years now.

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Weatherbug

From Linda Graham on May 18, 2018 :: 6:40 pm

Weatherbug is free and available for both phones and PC.  I’ve used it for years and am pleased with it.  In addition to offering detailed, current (Now), 10-day and hour-by-hour conditions from nearby weather stations (it partners with school science departments so there’s usually a reporting weather station within 15-20 miles from wherever you’re located), it’s added Flash which will show you how far away lightning has struck. Even in a rural east TX area, there’s a reporting station within 15 miles of my grandchild’s home.  We both love it.

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Mosaic Radar & WeatherBug

From Tornado Watcher on May 24, 2018 :: 5:10 pm

I use Weatherbug on PC, Phone & Tablet for the sound alerts and quick checking of alerts & lightning among other detailed information. Weather.gov has the Mosaic Radar map
http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Conus/full_loop.php    
that shows what’s happening in the country, and the Weather.gov alerts map shows a great overview for country & local areas. These 3 are my go-to for severe weather. Most of the police and emergency services around here use Mosaic, with WB or weather.gov to keep track of severe incoming weather.

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Dark Sky is good, WPXI weather App - Doom & Gloom

From Michele on May 27, 2018 :: 6:06 am

I just started using Dark Sky and it’s great for letting you know just how soon it is going to rain. Great it your trying to decide to start cutting your grass.

I also use the WPXI weather app which is local for Pittsburgh area.  I call it the doom and gloom weather app because it forecasts rain a LOT.  To be fair it does rain her a lot but still.

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Dark sky add-on is not accurate

From DM on July 01, 2019 :: 8:03 pm

The Firefox add-on that depends on Dark Sky just sent me outside thinking it was 84 degrees.  I couldn’t figure out why I was struggling so much mowing the lawn.  I finished and checked the Accuweather forecast, which said the temp was 92+ or something and felt like 104.  Whew!  Most of the weather sites gave varying temps, but all were higher than Dark Sky—- or the add-on someone made using Dark Sky.  It’s not refreshing correctly and that’s not good, IMHO.  I got sick of the bogging down with Accuweather as an add-on, so I’m not sure where to go for reliable, current weather.  I like having the weather on my toolbar, so I don’t have to look up or bookmark the website.  Our motto is, “It’s great to be a weatherman, because no matter how badly they do their job, it doesn’t seem to matter.”

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Something else

From James on June 15, 2018 :: 7:07 am

For me the best weather website is http://sat24.cc
You can find here anything you need to know about weather forecast.

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Garbage

From Robert on November 24, 2018 :: 8:05 am

Ever since IBM bought The Weather Company, which previously purchased Wunderground but left it alone, Weather Underground has removed most of the functionality - including reliable favorites - from paid users and apparently fired all of their customer service representatives.

By the way, WeatherBug is spyware.  It got its start by using schools and teachers to victimize parents and educators. I don’t know if they are still affiliated, but at one point AccuWeather and the WeatherBug were either the same company or directly tied to each other.  Neither can be trusted.

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WeatherBug is not spyware

From Josh Kirschner on December 03, 2018 :: 4:51 pm

WeatherBug is not spyware. If you believe otherwise, please support your claim.

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Yes, it is

From Robert on December 03, 2018 :: 8:04 pm

You’re probably too young to remember when this was common knowledge; at the time they were one of the most pervasive.

https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/weatherbug/internet/weatherbug-ripoff-has-spyware-built-in-even-though-the-website-says-no-spyware-internet-102046

Leopards can’t change their spots.  Especially a highly aggressive leopard such as WeatherBug.

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That's an absurd argument

From Josh Kirschner on December 03, 2018 :: 10:14 pm

You’re referencing a forum post from 2004 as your evidence that WeatherBug, 14 years later, is spyware (By any chance, are you the same Rob who wrote that post)? Even that (your?) post largely supported what others had said at the time, the free version of WeatherBug served ads, and could be considered Adware - but that’s a very different thing than spyware.

FWIW, Microsoft analyzed WeatherBug at the time and made the determination it was not spyware: http://www.eweek.com/security/weatherbug-miffed-at-microsofts-spyware-classification. I’ve found no evidence of WeatherBug being flagged for any type of adware or spyware since those mid-2000s versions.

And, again, that was 14 years ago! If anyone needs a reminder of how much things have changed since 2004, Weatherbug was being shipped with AOL Instant Messenger to run on your Windows XP machine. Doubleclick, one of Weatherbug’s ad networks, was later bought by an up-and-coming company called Google in 2007. And, FWIW, I was 35 years old in 2004 - old enough to remember things.

Are you a troll?

From Robert on December 03, 2018 :: 11:11 pm

“You’re referencing a forum post from 2004 as your evidence that WeatherBug, 14 years later, is spyware”

You asked for evidence, there you go. That was written six years after WeatherBug started peddling their spyware.


“(By any chance, are you the same Rob who wrote that post)?”

Really?


“Even that (your?) post largely supported what others had said at the time, the free version of WeatherBug served ads, and could be considered Adware - but that’s a very different thing than spyware.”

It was doing more than that, sending back information about browsing habits, software usage, and more. And, even adware still tracks what you do, otherwise it’s delivering non-targeted ads, which makes adware that does tracking spyware.


“FWIW, Microsoft analyzed WeatherBug at the time and made the determination it was not spyware: http://www.eweek.com/security/weatherbug-miffed-at-microsofts-spyware-classification.”

You misread. Microsoft did classify it as spyware and caused AWS to become aggressive in defending itself.

“I’ve found no evidence of WeatherBug being flagged for any type of adware or spyware since those mid-2000s versions.”

Once a child molester, always a child molester. Spyware peddlers are in exactly the same boat: they can never be trusted except to spy on their users.  Those classifications may have changed due to legal challenges of certain types of spyware claims, promises of a clean act by AWS, bribery, and so forth. There’s no proof they cleaned up their act.


“And, again, that was 14 years ago! If anyone needs a reminder of how much things have changed since 2004, Weatherbug was being shipped with AOL Instant Messenger to run on your Windows XP machine. Doubleclick, one of Weatherbug’s ad networks, was later bought by an up-and-coming company called Google in 2007.”

Again, once a spyware peddler always a spyware peddler.  WeatherBug was one of the worst violators for YEARS!  You expect me to believe they cleaned up their act?

“And, FWIW, I was 35 years old in 2004 - old enough to remember things.” 

Then you ignored them?  Or maybe you just didn’t pay attention at the time.  That’s okay, most people didn’t.  Just because you weren’t aware of it does not mean it wasn’t happening.  Similarly, unless you have access to the source code of WeatherBug, you can’t say they aren’t spyware.

Laughing over here

From DM on July 01, 2019 :: 8:10 pm

I realize these were old comments, but Josh had me laughing with references to the two biggest internet/computer spies out there:  Microsoft and Google.  If there is any affiliation to either of those, it’s a guarantee that spyware is part of anything.  Thanks for the chuckle.

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ADS

From Elizabeth Frankston on November 30, 2018 :: 5:29 pm

i didnt even read this article because this page has more stupid ads than the weather channel

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Weather.com Liberal Crap

From Derris Bradshaw on December 03, 2018 :: 4:02 pm

Apparently weather.com has just become a delivery system for left wing, anti-conservative propaganda with a little focus on weather forecasting thrown in.  WeatherBug it is….

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Care to support that?

From Josh Kirschner on December 03, 2018 :: 4:58 pm

I just took a look at the site and I’m struggling to find the “anti-conservative propaganda” you’re referring to.

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Weatherbuggy

From Jesse Spencer on January 29, 2019 :: 1:00 am

I tried WB on several occasions and had a variety of problems with ads, cookies and so on. Maybe some overstate the deviousness of sites, after all its only weather info we want.
I used a stand alone program called weather pulse until it was abandoned due to licensing fees or something. Have yet to find anything close to that in overall usefulness without aggravation.

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Weather Bug is 100% banned on my network

From eddie inglessa on January 22, 2019 :: 3:52 pm

I am network admin. we run a defense-in-depth security program, including: Zscaler, carbon Black, DarkTrace, Eset, & Proofpoint.

WeatherBug is explicitly banned by company & hash on Carbon Black. Blacklisted on Zscaler & Eset.

Tests using Darktrace with weatherbug on a honeypot showed (in 2018, after an exec complained they wanted it) continuous, open connections on multiple ports to multiple IPs.
Considerable data being sent off to weatherbug.

After showing my findings, the exec deleted it off his home PCs too.

Innocent data mining by weatherbug? Maybe.

I’m not taking that chance.

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Maybe

From Josh Kirschner on January 22, 2019 :: 6:07 pm

Hi Eddie,

Thanks for the additional info. I ran the Weatherbug install file (WeatherBugSetup.exe) and each of the program files through VirusTotal. All the files came up clean across all 69 engines.

There were instances of previous flags of WeatherBugSetup.exe, notably by ESET two years ago, but that version was downloaded from some French app download site (pcastuces.com), so could have been modified with a malicious payload. The other flags were also third-party downloaded versions. That is probably why you’re seeing the blacklist from ESET and likely the other security programs.

I can’t explain the open connections Weatherbug maintains when running, as I obviously have no insight into how its coded or what is running in the backend. The app pulls in a lot of content from outside companies - live cams, weather alerts, etc. - perhaps some of this is pulled directly from those third-party sites, rather than via Weatherbug’s servers or maybe it’s just coded badly (or both).

In any case, I still don’t see any evidence that Weatherbug is spyware, but there’s no way to prove that Weatherbug isn’t spyware, either. So makes complete sense why you might want to keep it off corporate hardware, especially since there have been non-official versions that seem to have been compromised.

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Don't care for the Weatherbug app ... but

From Arnold Bookheim Jr. on March 19, 2019 :: 11:36 am

I didn’t care for the computer app, and uninstalled it right away ... glad I did after reading your posts.  But I do like the web version.  Very clean and fast. 
I recently dumped Intellicast for Underground ... now I’m dumping Underground because it is just wrong on local temperature most of the time ... I’m talking 8 - 10 degrees wrong. I check it first thing in the morning before walking my dog and it reports 61. So I don a sweater or the like and go out and freeze my butt off because it’s 51!
Guess I try Weatherbug for awhile.

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Yes! Inaccurate temps.

From DM on July 01, 2019 :: 8:19 pm

Thanks for your post.  I stumbled onto this site in looking for info on the best weather site, to see if there is a better add-on I can use for Firefox.  I’m currently running a toolbar add-on that relies on Dark Sky, after dumping Accuweather due to their heavy ads bogging things down.  I don’t know if it’s the add-on/developer or if it’s Dark Sky, but the same darn thing just happened to me with temps being way off.  I don’t think any of these weather sites know their butts from a hole in the ground when it comes to accuracy.  Maybe I’ll hang a thermometer outside my door.

Too many ads!

From Drake Remore on March 17, 2019 :: 10:17 am

So many ads causing the sites (including this one) to be slow. The Weather Channel has cable subscription income. Weather Underground was acquired by Weather Channel so it has now been filled with ads as well. Locals call Accuweather, “In-AccuWeather” because even though their headquarters is in our town, my house friends agree that we get no better forecast than from other sites. Obviously, I’m obviously I’m missing something because all the main weather sites are full of ads.

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Weather Underground

From Robert S Steinberg on March 27, 2019 :: 11:41 pm

Sorry, Elizabeth, But WU sucks! I have been using it for the past 20 years. It used to be great, but just as soon as it was bought and moved to San Francisco, it just not work.

You used to be able to pay for add-free on a desktop. That has gone away.

The many multiple ads seem to be fighting each other, to load, and while that is happening, little weather info is load. I have tried it on 4 different browsers. Same problem. They ignore complaints on their Facebook page.

They broke it and cannot fix it.

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Which site has the most

From Eesha Williams on April 18, 2019 :: 8:42 am

Which site has the most accurate forecasts? Has a professor done a scientific study of this? Thank you.

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Sorry state of weather sites

From Craig Weinhold on June 28, 2019 :: 3:09 pm

From the comments here, it’s clear weather content has been monopolized by ad mongers.

We need a Wiipedia or OpenStreetMap for weather—a non-profit, ad-free, non-tracking, community-based service whose only goal is the public good. The NOAA has the raw data and resources, but is reluctant to compete against the private sector.

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There may be hope!

From Rich on July 29, 2019 :: 2:25 pm

WeatherWX.com could supply the answer to all your whoas when it comes to weather. Equipped with all the latest radar, weather warnings supplied by the NWS to include extensive forecasting abilities with extreme ease of navigation. You’d be pressed to find a more informative weather solution.

They used to be Find Local Weather but the name change occurred so that they could be found easier. No apps but apps are not required. Nothing to install they are not a data mining site. The site functions awesome on a phone or tablet.

A weather mapping system that is bar none for current conditions worldwide with extensive US forecasting ability. May like to check it out.

Local, National and International forecasts.

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How to monetize the wrong way

From Cookiekiller on August 30, 2019 :: 10:40 am

The monetizing junkies behind Accuweather.com recently completely crippled their site for anyone with the audacity to block their ever-growing list of intrusive data-mining, data-sharing, tracking, beaconizing, sniffing cookies from all the notorious and much-despised third-party ad servers.  If Wunderground does the same, I’m content to glance at my cheap weather station:
wet string = rain
whipping around = windy
icicles = below freezing
skies darkening = storm’s a’coming or sunset.
The “H” with monetizer abuse of privacy. (So-called Privacy Policies aren’t worth the pixels they’re printed with.)

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Non global agenda

From Marty on September 02, 2019 :: 10:01 am

How about a weather news site that doesn’t push the human global climate change bs and tells the truth ?

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You Can't Handle The Truth

From Robert on September 02, 2019 :: 11:39 am

Because, Marty, you are proposing a catch-22. What you fail to comprehend is they are telling the truth. An inconvenient truth, but a truth nonetheless. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t make it untrue or “fake”.

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