Ask HN: What is going on with Apple Weather?

#1

Post by contact9879 » Sun, Jun 11, 2023, 4:55 PM UTC

For the past month and a half or so (I think ever since the iOS/iPadOS update that broke the weather app), Apple Weather has forecasted rain in the daily forecast without fail and sometimes even in the hourly forecast. I have only experienced about 7 days of rain since then. (7/45 = 16% accuracy, that would rank it far below any other forecast provider: https://forecastadvisor.com/Texas/Houston/77061/)

I am located in the Texas area and been between Houston and Dallas and Fort Worth multiple times throughout the past month and Apple Weather has forecasted rain every day. I eventually had to switch to another weather app because Apple Weather was unusable.

This is not a post to just hate on Apple Weather, but at this point, I had thought that the issue would’ve been realized and fixed by now. What is going on and is Apple going to fix it?

Re: Ask HN: What is going on with Apple Weather?

#2

Post by DHPersonal » Sun, Jun 11, 2023, 5:34 PM UTC

My area is also similarly always labeled as being under a rainy weather forecast while the sources from which Apple claims to be pulling the information make no similar claims to precipitation.

Re: Ask HN: What is going on with Apple Weather?

#3

Post by eriklarson » Sun, Jun 11, 2023, 5:35 PM UTC

I’m in Texas and have had the same question.

Re: Ask HN: What is going on with Apple Weather?

#4

Post by beckler » Sun, Jun 11, 2023, 5:42 PM UTC

I’m on the latest iOS version and I’m experiencing the same. However, my wife is a few minor versions behind, and her‘s is much more accurate.

Re: Ask HN: What is going on with Apple Weather?

#5

Post by tracerbulletx » Sun, Jun 11, 2023, 5:45 PM UTC

I've also been experiencing weird behavior like that. Also the radar map fails to load a lot, and sometimes it looks like the radar animation plays backwards? Seems pretty unreliable. I've been using Windy instead.

Re: Ask HN: What is going on with Apple Weather?

#6

Post by cellularmitosis » Sun, Jun 11, 2023, 5:54 PM UTC

eriklarson wrote: post #3

I’m in Texas and have had the same question.

Same thing in the Austin area.

Re: Ask HN: What is going on with Apple Weather?

#7

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jun 11, 2023, 6:06 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What is going on with Apple Weather?

#8

Post by samwillis » Sun, Jun 11, 2023, 6:16 PM UTC

I'm usually a proponent of Apple, but the failure to deliver the same usability as DarkSky after the acquisition is so disappointing.

With DarkSky you could open the app and without a single click have an overview of the next 24hr, and only a single click for detailed figures such as wind speed. As well as an overview of the next week.

Now with Apple Weather you have to click after opening the app to get to a proper 24h overview, and the one you get is so much worse that the DarkSky one.

I'm sure the DarkSky team have war stories about the transition to Apple and how much they wanted to keep/change.

Bitterly disappointed in it.

Re: Ask HN: What is going on with Apple Weather?

#9

Post by contact9879 » Sun, Jun 11, 2023, 6:22 PM UTC

beckler wrote: post #4

I’m on the latest iOS version and I’m experiencing the same. However, my wife is a few minor versions behind, and her‘s is much more accurate.

I’ve switched to Carrot weather instead and it offers Apple Weather as a source which gives similar results as the main weather app. Seems to be something wrong with the weather API. I use Foreca as a source primarily now.

Re: Ask HN: What is going on with Apple Weather?

#10

Post by paulcole » Sun, Jun 11, 2023, 6:27 PM UTC

Seems to work fine for me in the Pacific Northwest.