Reliable Weather Forecast Website/App You Trust in Melbourne?

Armin65 on 17/08/2017 - 17:09
Last edited 17/08/2017 - 20:18 by 1 other user

Earlier this morning, as always, I checked BOM website which said the chance of rain over this afternoon is quite low. So, left home without any umbrella or raincoat! I bet you guessed what happened next :(((
Just at this moment, it started to pour out here (BOM still says 30% chance of rain, but it literally rains for the chance of >40%). Luckily, I found a shelter. Well, my clothes are wet all over now and I'm still waiting here until it stops. I thought that's the time I should rely on fellow OzB to ask.

What forecast system do you usually check daily or for your holiday/day trips and you TRUST it?!

P.S. I used to trust BOM as per suggestion of my colleagues in water engineering who go for field work when it rains…

Sports & Outdoors

Comments

  • Looking4Bargians on 17/08/2017 - 17:14
    +2

    Only your own eyes.

  • SharedSugar on 17/08/2017 - 17:20
    +3

    Not sure, but I think BOM is the source of all weather information in Australia and everyone else is interpreting the BOM data

    • Armin65 on 17/08/2017 - 18:03

      True, but I've got another app called Storm (previously intellicast). I guess it uses American data source and sometimes has a better hourly prediction…

    • JimmyF on 17/08/2017 - 21:16

      correct

  • lysp on 17/08/2017 - 17:28
    +1

    I got the following app during a sale:

    google/android.pocketweatherau

    It uses data from the BOM and is very customisable.

    It also grabs the 3 hour BOM data and presents it in graph form, so you can see specifically when rain is forecast and it's change/percentage.
    rain graph example

    • JimmyF on 17/08/2017 - 21:16

      As its feed from BOM, when the OP checked, it would have said the same as BOM did….. Low chance of rain.

  • rambutann on 17/08/2017 - 19:10

    yeah they're definitely not the best predicting at it. I generally just watch the 128km bom radar and work out short term weather/rain.

  • Word on 17/08/2017 - 19:37
    +1

    Underground:
    https://goo.gl/ZXiySk

  • Euphemistic on 17/08/2017 - 20:34

    Use BOM, then work out how to interpret the info for your particular area by looking out the window. The only 'forecast' I trust is the radar readout, and I know that it is often inaccurate in specific areas where where the radar reads a bit funny.

    I learnt my weather watching from trying to determine if roadworks were going to go ahead or not. Got it wrong as often as right when the call was 50/50. Call it off, no rain. Go ahead, get wet.

  • epicttiimm on 17/08/2017 - 20:59

    Rain Parrot, like Dark Sky but for Australia. Uses real time radar to predict rainfall. Saved me a few times from rain too. Will notify you if rain is predicted to fall in like 15 mins, 30 mins etc.

  • Randxyz123 on 17/08/2017 - 21:09

    Rain parrot.

    Worth the money

  • endotherm on 17/08/2017 - 22:13

    These are the same people that use some of the most powerful computers on the planet to forecast the weather and still get it wrong. Yet they are supposedly infallible when it comes to climate change predictions…

  • theclearout on 17/08/2017 - 22:46
    +1

    You should take a look at Fishranger. Website and also can download app for IOS and Android.
    It gives very detailed information and is easy to read.
    It was developed by a Melbourne lad too.
    www.fishranger.com.au

  • kahn on 18/08/2017 - 00:53

    Brolly could be worth trying if you're mostly concerned about rain. Android and iOS.

  • wobbuffet on 18/08/2017 - 02:12

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.gov.bom.met… Appears to be the official BOM weather app

    https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/bom-weather/id1100096880 also for iOS.

    And is free??

  • John Kimble on 18/08/2017 - 07:17
    +1

    Pretty sure you can't say "reliable weather forecast" and "Melbourne" in the same sentence…unless it's something like "it's impossible to have a reliable weather forecast for Melbourne".

  • ozchobie on 18/08/2017 - 08:07

    I use weather timeline which gives you option which source to use and can even predict weather in the next year based on previous data. I found using Dark Sky as its source is pretty accurate.

  • jgbargains on 18/08/2017 - 08:40
    +2

    Hi All, as the founder of Fish Ranger I can confirm the following - BOM produce the best forecast data for Australia but they have a few different forecast products (Their premium/best/most accurate data is called ADFD). The other group that produce data for Australia is the NOAA in USA. Their data is not as accurate as BoM by a long shot (I won't go into technical details why just trust me on this) and is most used on global apps - ie like the default weather app on your phone.

    99.9% of weather sites that are Global in nature (ie you can select cities all over the world) use NOAA data - in other words don't use them. The ones that use BoM ADFD data are the most accurate. That being said weather forecasting is not a precise science and its going to be wrong occasionally, get over it.

    Fish Ranger gives the best representation of ADFD data and unlike BoM or other websites it also shows forecast Air Pressure and Cloud Cover which give a good indication of approaching conditions.

    BoM MetEye and Fish Ranger have the exact same data but FR is much easier to see and use so try it out. Its on the app store and the web at
    www.fishranger.com.au

    • endotherm on 18/08/2017 - 12:21

      Wait, BoM and NOAA are producing conflicting data? I thought there was a consensus!

      Seriously, informative post.

    • Armin65 on 18/08/2017 - 14:20
      +2

      detailed info
      just installed, will try it out mate :)

    • Lana3 on 18/08/2017 - 21:41

      Agree. Fish Ranger is great. I use it as my everyday weather app. I love that I can see the rain forecast by the hour. It's free too. Great 'ozbargain'!

  • endotherm on 18/08/2017 - 12:43

    Next time they tell you there is a chance of rain, take notice of that rather than worrying about the percentage. They even get it right in Dumb and Dumber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX5jNnDMfxA .

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