AccuWeather, Carrot, More: 6 Apps To Keep Track Of The Weather

Overdrop, Weather Underground, and more to choose from.

If you thought weather apps only meant boring figures and updates, think again.

It is that time of the year when you wake up and wonder what the weather today will be like. Some days seem warmer, some nights seem extra chilly, rain always seems to lurk in the air, and if you happen to be in a large city, it is a fair chance that you might wonder if the dim view you get of the sun outside is a result of fog or smog. If you are often being caught in two or three minds by the weather, then it is perhaps time that you decided to get some app to help out. 

As in so many things in life, there are apps for the weather as well. And while most of them broadly deliver similar information, they do so in different styles and manners, some stressing one factor, some stressing others.  

So if you need some app-y assistance to figure out what the weather is going to be like, not just today or tomorrow, but even a few days down the line, we suggest you try out the following six apps:

Do note that all the apps are available both on Google Play and Apple’s App Store. 

Yahoo Weather: Basic information, great pictures 

There was a time when Yahoo was the Google of the tech world but as time passed, the tech giant took a back seat. Now Yahoo may not be as much a part of our lives as it once was but it still has some very good apps that can come in handy every now and then. 

One such app is their weather app, Yahoo weather. It is a simple, clean, cut-to-the-chase weather app which fetches weather details for you in no time. 

Like most weather apps, it will require your location to tell you what the weather in your vicinity looks like. 

When you open the app, it will greet you with a Flickr photo as a background (generally of a region near your location). At the bottom of this photo, you will find basic details of what the weather around you will be like on that particular day. 

To get a more detailed, hour-by-hour weather update, you can just scroll further down to a new page and you will get the hourly weather information about your area. The app also shares information about precipitation and air quality and also has the option for you to see weather forecasts of up to 10 days. 

The app is simple and the great pictures in the background give it a certain standout-ness to it. 

Clean graphics, simple information — it is a pretty plain app that does the basics well and if you wish to keep it simple and subtle, the Yahoo Weather app would be perfect for you. 

Carrot Weather: Weather with an attitude 

Can a weather app be chatty and have a personality of its own? Well, Carrot Weather proves that it can. 

In fact, it literally comes with four personalities that you can choose from — friendly, snarky, homicidal and overkill (includes profanity). Depending on the personality you pick, Carrot Weather will add a few comments to the weather information it delivers. 

The weather data itself is impressive, as it comes from Apple-acquired Dark Sky, but it is the comments that make this app special. 

We would advise the sensitive to steer clear of the app or stick to the friendly mode. 

The f-word does get thrown around like confetti and you might get addressed as "meatbag" during the set-up process. 

There is some wit too — you get sunny as well as moony conditions. 

There is hourly information for the day, including data on UV index, pressure and humidity, but we could not find anything on air quality. 

Shelling out some cash will unlock some more features, and we think the app also works better on iOS than on Android. Perfect for those who would like a sassy rather than a classy (read basic) weather app.

The Weather Channel: For the weather enthusiast

We now get into the serious weather enthusiast zone where folks want to know more than just whether they need to take an umbrella or jacket along when they step out. 
The Weather Channel comes from IBM and it comes laden with so much information that it can sometimes get a little overwhelming. 

You get hourly updates and daily forecasts, and there is also a dedicated section to air quality, with information of different pollutants that are in the air. 

The app also recommends the kind of activity the weather is suitable for and even its impact on your skin and on insects (there is a mosquito index). 

There is even extensive weather-related news for those who want to know how the weather is making headlines in other parts of the world. This is strictly for the weather nerd in you. If you want to know more than just about forecasts, get this app STAT.

AccuWeather: Clean design with lots of information 

AccuWeather is one of the most popular weather apps around because it attempts to hit the middle ground between delivering a truckload of information and keeping the interface relatively clean. The app generally has a strong central theme colour and shows well spaced-out information. 

It also drops in a hint about the expected weather at the very top of your screen, so if it expects a sudden drop in temperature or some rainfall, it will say so right at the top, saving you the need to dig deeper into the app. You get your hourly updates and forecasts of the days ahead, as well as detailed information on the air quality. 

There is even an allergy outlook section not just for the day but for the week ahead, which can be super useful for those planning trips. 

There is also some weather-related news and even radar layers of different weather conditions on a map if you are into that sort of thing. 

A very good app to have if you want detailed information on the weather without drowning in it.

Weather Underground: The weather close to you

Weather Underground is perhaps the best app for you if you are looking for weather conditions of extremely local conditions. The app pulls data from more than 200,000 personal weather stations to give you detailed weather information of not just generic areas but actual localities in many cases. 

There is even a hurricane tracker and a storm radar for extreme weather alerts. 

This app too comes from IBM and there is a surfeit of information out there — you not only get hour-by-hour weather forecasts of the current day (as in most apps) but actually forecasts about the hour-to-hour weather for the next few days. 

You also get air quality and UV index information, and plenty of radar images. Again, this one iss for those who want detailed weather information. No weather news, though. 

Overdrop: Weather with a theme

Overdrop comes with weather data from Dark Sky, Accuweather and WeatherBit, so if accurate and reliable weather information that you are looking for, this app has got you covered. 

You get your regular hourly weather forecast, air quality index, weather radar and a weekly forecast as well. However, the spin on the app is the fact that it comes with themes, allowing you to actually change its look and feel. 

You can opt for something colourful or something more understated.  

Given how complicated some weather apps can get, we love the attempt made to give us some control over how Overdrop looks and feels.