When it comes to tracking the weather, there are several tools available for learning and understanding weather conditions.
Two of those options are weather stations and weather apps. When you want to know the weather on a dime, you might pull out your smartphone and open the weather app. You’ll see the forecast for today and typically 10 days into the future.
But did you ever notice that the weather app is not always accurate? Your weather app may often call for rain, but you never see a drop.
This is just one of the key differences between weather stations vs. weather apps. Below, we’ll discuss what you can expect in terms of accuracy between the two and more.
Weather Accuracy
How do you know when your weather forecast or data is accurate?
You can only be sure when you are using an on-site weather station. This is because weather data on the weather app pulls from local airports. That airport can be miles away, which won’t represent the most accurate data.
“Most weather apps struggle to accurately predict things like snowfall and thunderstorms. Small differences in atmospheric moisture and temperature means big differences in what happens on the ground. Even the smallest changes in these elements can be the difference between a light dusting and six inches of snow blanketing your city. As for convective storms, more commonly called thunderstorms, it’s hard to know exactly where they will form, making it difficult to actually predict how big the storms will be and what will be affected by them. Will it be five miles north, or south, or right on the current location? That could mean the difference in getting soaked or staying dry.” Why are weather apps still so unreliable?
Be Wary of the Source
While the weather data might pull from airport weather stations, there are other sources that you have to be wary about with weather apps.
Some apps may not even be reported from your own country. Weather radio forecaster and retired meteorologist Ted Buehner saw the weather for Seattle, Washington reported from Russia. This obviously yielded different readings for people monitoring the same location.
Monitoring Microclimates
The accuracy comes down to the weather station or weather app monitoring microclimates. Microclimates exist everywhere, ranging from forest floors to mountain ranges and even large farms.
When the weather station monitors the microclimate, you’ll get the exact data for your specific location.
Using the weather app, it will pull data for a large area that may or may not apply to where you are located.
Wi-Fi Connection
Wherever you go for tracking the weather, you’ll need a reliable WiFi or cellular connection to gather data for a weather app.
If you are in a remote area, this can be difficult if not impossible.
With a weather station, this isn’t the case. This is because weather stations like the KestrelMet 6000 operate using cellular service. You can use it any place, any time, all over the world without the need for Wi-Fi.
Weather for Your Specific Location
While weather apps certainly have their place, they simply don’t possess the power and accuracy of weather stations for onsite conditions monitoring.
The KestrelMet 6000 is one of the top recommended weather stations for pros and amateurs alike. You can rest assured that the weather data from your weather station is accurate and on-point for your location.