doppler

Whether you live in rainy Seattle or are expecting thunderstorms in Albany, N.Y., it's always a good idea to carry solid weather apps on your iPhone for quick forecasts.

The Weather Channel released version 5.0 of its app late last week with an upgraded interface and a few more features that will be useful to amateur meteorologists everywhere, but it doesn't have everything. One of the more useful parts of any local weather forecast is when you get to see the live Doppler radar for your location. The Weather Channel will show you a radar overlay, but you can't see it move. That's where the second app in this one-two punch comes in, NOAA Hi-Def Radar.

With this pair of apps, you might find that one or the other is the best weather app for you, but hopefully this comparison will help you find what best fits your needs.… Read more

Hurricane season is open, and that means keeping track of whether these storms will reach your hometown. Following the local news can be cumbersome if you're on the go, so why not use your Android device to help out? Here are three Android apps that can keep you informed on severe weather conditions.

Hurricane HoundHurricane Hound is an app designed specifically for tracking storms. Each storm is labeled by name with several icons denoting the path the hurricane is predicted to take. These icons are colored and labeled based on the category rating the storm will be at … Read more

With Hurricane Irene making landfall in North Carolina, you're going to want up-to-the-minute information on the storm, especially if you live in the area or have relatives and friends who might be affected. Fortunately you can get an app for your iOS device that will give you all the latest information.

Note: Android users can find hurricane-tracking apps here.

There are several apps for iOS that let you track hurricanes around the globe. But the best hurricane-tracking apps give you up-to-the minute storm information, include radar and satellite images, and offer detailed push alerts for warnings and storm intensity changes. We found some very feature-rich apps for both iPhone and iPad and narrowed it down to one great app for each device.… Read more

As of today, Google Earth can finally tell you what the weather is like while you zoom around the 3D representation of our planet. The app has a new layer that lets you toggle cloud cover, Doppler radar, and conditions and forecasts, which will show you what's on tap in each region using information aggregated from Weather.com. There's also an "information" link that has more background about each of the services and links to download the 6- and 24-hour cloud animations, which can be controlled using playback buttons in the top right of your screen. It looks just like you've seen on any TV weather report, except you have complete control on the playback slider, and can drag is backward and forward ad nauseum to bend the clouds to your will (it's great fun).

I couldn't manage to get the "conditions and forecasts" sublayer to activate with the latest build for Windows, but maybe that's just me. Everything else works marvelously, including the Doppler radar that Google claims is "near real-time," which is a reasonable considering it's updated every 15 minutes--about what you'd find at most weather sites. The data for Doppler comes from Weather.com and is limited to the contiguous United States, with plans to roll it out to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Europe "shortly." All other regions of the globe are limited to cloud cover and forecasts, which Google pins at somewhere around 50,000 cities worldwide.… Read more