. . . of an alternative to the Met Office app but that uses Met Office forecasts?

[tim-b]

The Weather Channel for me.
Meteorologist Rosie Mammatt (University of Reading) compared several apps over a two-week period for Which? (published last month).

The most accurate app was The Weather Channel. It performed well when forecasting the weather for the next few hours (known as a nowcast) and was also strong at predicting the weather accurately for later the same day. It offers free apps for both Android and Apple, and it’s available at weather.com. https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/we ... 43y6N3kuUN

[ferretdiver]

I was also a user of the Met Office App in its previous form. Very disappointed with the new widget on my phone. It is confusing to read & all my favourite stored locations have disappeared.

Hoping for some good alternative suggestions on this thread.


I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels

[axel_knutt]

There's a link for giving feedback:
https://response.questback.com/isa/qbv. ... 2vX15N3t20

[freiston]

I've already fed back via that survey a few times

[DaveReading]

Just because you’re using a phone doesn’t mean you need to use the app.

Yes, most people don't seem to understand that if you're using an app that you don't actually interact with, the chances are that (as in this case) there is a simple website alternative that's accessible from any device that has a browser.

[gcogger]

I use an Android app called "Weather Forecast: UK" (by Onjara Software). It uses Met Office data. I can't promise you'll find it better than anything else, but I've been using it for many years and the UI seems nice and clear.

[Rob D]

Interesting! My wife and I don't like it either. It puts us, by default, in the wrong location and you have to burrow down to get the right location.

Although I've long found the MO to be the least accurate of the 3 I use, I've tended to use it because it's the MO - you assume it's the best. I actually find the BBC one of the most accurate and will use this as the main one from now, although it doesn't include mountain areas.

The other really good one is the Norwegian Yr.no. Was told of this one winter by the factor on the Braemar Estate in the Cairngorms. It's their forecasting of choice. It's good in that it differentiates between big sun/small cloud and small sun/big cloud, with a lot of useful info such as the amount of rain in mm expected, hour by hour.

Other issues with the MO is that their wind forecasts are always way over the top, and that they consistently underestimate the severity of cold temperatures. This is quite critical if you're considering a ride. I had 2 nasty spills on ice a few years ago, on the same day. Although it had warmed up, I discovered on my return that my min/max thermometer showed it'd been 2 degrees colder during the night than the MO forecast. Had I checked it, we wouldn't have gone out.

[PDQ Mobile]

Doesn't fit your criteria but just to say that the street care team at the council I used to work with uses Metcheck to decide whether to send the gritters out.
https://www.metcheck.com/EUROPE/unitedkingdom.asp

And was it a success for the Council there?
My local Gwynedd council sent gritters (salt actually and it kills old cars and bike drive trains) out on Xmas and Boxing day.
The humidity was really really low and the roads were bone dry throughout, except where the self same council don't clear any gullies.
They would sooner grit running water!
They say there is no money for a great deal of things!

They gritted last night too (Sat)and we had no real frost at all here in the West.
I sometime think it's more about double and treble time for the staff.

A simple text forecast is still available from the Met Office without any app.
https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/forecast/uk

Regional forecasts ditto.
https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/forecast/regional/wl

Deep dive and longer meteorological analysis also from Met Office on Youtube.

[Slowroad]

So it's not just me! I hate the new website/app too. I'll change back to the earlier version while it's around, and use the BBC app on my phone. And keep an eye on suggestions here!
Edit: I've just looked at both versions - the old version has changed somewhat, seems to be the old desigh but with the new layout? E.g., you used to have to toggle from rainfall % to get 'feels like', now both are there at the same time.

[axel_knutt]

I've just discovered that the default weather on my Samsung phone is TWC, and that that's had a format change since I last looked at it as well. It used to be on a plain blue background, but they've changed that to a photograph which does nothing other than reduce the contrast and readability of the information you're trying to read.

Why does everyone have to keep fixing what ain't broke!!!!

(There are no alternatives in the set-up menu, either)

[tim-b]

I've just discovered that the default weather on my Samsung phone is TWC, and that that's had a format change since I last looked at it as well. It used to be on a plain blue background, but they've changed that to a photograph which does nothing other than reduce the contrast and readability of the information you're trying to read.

Why does everyone have to keep fixing what ain't broke!!!!

(There are no alternatives in the set-up menu, either)

That's only on the "Home" tab. Hourly, Daily and Radar don't have an image

[mjr]

Breezy Weather can use Met Office forecasts in its mixed version (not the freenet version) but the Met Office don't provide all service types so it'll get things like weather alerts from other services.

[brianleach]

I can live with the new Met Office app but the Norwegian app does look much better. Thanks for the heads up.

[Rob D]

I hadn't realised until just now that Yr.no is the Norwegian Met Office. Never gave it a thought, just enjoyed using it.
It's accurate today, so far, so too the MO, but unusually, BBC is wrong.

[Galactic]

I can live with the new Met Office app but the Norwegian app does look much better. Thanks for the heads up.

The Norwegian weather service in my experience is very good for Norway, but for central Europe it tends to be a little too inclined to forecast rain. In those regions you want to scale back the expectations of rain.

Not sure how successful it is at forecasting UK weather, I use Met Office data via the Breezy app here.

The Breezy app (and many other apps) can use Open Meteo as a source, which has a model using data from the UK Met Office, German DWD, Norwegian Yr and others. I find it pretty accurate.