Tired of getting caught in the rain? Startup Rainbow Weather released its hyper-local rain-alert and hurricane-tracking app Rainbow Weather in November, giving you a great way to track weather tied to your precise location at all times via your iPhone.
How to get accurate local weather forecasts with Rainbow Weather
With climate change making weather forecasting more difficult and unpredictable, industry veterans Yury Melnichek and Alexander Matveenko decided to use artificial intelligence (AI) to bring more speed and accuracy to forecasting with the new Rainbow Weather app. It first launched as Rainbow AI, then updated its name.
The Rainbow Weather mobile app takes advantage of advanced AI modeling that relies on a large array of data sources, including satellites, meteorology stations, user reports and shared-device data. And, according to some media reports, the app could save lives and loads of money when it comes to being ready for catastrophic weather.
Intuitive map interface
The app’s hyper-local forecasts for rain, snow and other storms, including hurricanes, brings real-time updates depending on a user’s movements tracked by their device location. The intuitive map interface tracks the weather around you and lets you know when it may effect you.
The primary imagery you see on the screen is a 2-hour time-lapse image of satellite-tracked weather, with “now” in the middle of the span. It will also give you the basic weather condition in the form of a graphic (e.g., cloud), temperature and “feels like” temperature, along with a short description of the current or most recent precipitation.
Rain intensity is shown on a colored bar with six levels, from drizzle to “extreme rain,” or you can toggle to show inches of rain. You can also see a temperature chart of the coming hours.
Speed and accuracy claims
Photo: Rainbow Weather
The app also invites you to give feedback on whether its analysis actually matches conditions, so it can work on improving the app. While it doesn’t appear to offer more information that many other weather apps, it contends its speed and accuracy are better.
Rainbow Weather claims to have 3.5% better rain prediction than Apple Weather in the US, and 9.5% better accuracy than AccuWeather globally. That means for every million weather app users, between 35,000 and 95,000 individuals get more accurate notifications about upcoming downpours within a 30-minute forecast window, according to Rainbow Weather.
Rainbow Weather app features
Here’s how the app describes its main features:
- Down-to-the-minute rain forecast for your location.
- Upcoming weather changes for your place of stay.
- High-quality radar info on an interactive map to plan your trips.
- Extremely precise rain and snow forecast for the next hour.
- Rain and snow notifications for your location.
- Dark mode for a better viewing experience and eye comfort.
And if you shell out for the premium version, here’s what you get, according to Rainbow Weather:
- Dropcast: minute-by-minute precipitation forecast
- Hurricane tracker
- Premium widgets
- No ads
Price: Free with in-app purchases for full features (premium is $4.99 per month)
Download from: App Store
