The Best Free iPhone Weather App

The weather app that comes with your iPhone is usable, but it doesn’t provide much information.  Sometimes an icon doesn’t tell you exactly what you can expect weather-wise.  Heading into these autumn and, eventually, winter months we’ll need more information about the weather.

Even with the advent of the App Store, there hasn’t been a free weather app that just knocked my socks off.  Perhaps I am a bit tougher to please than the average iPhone user because I have been a weather producer at the television station I work at.

Well, the must-have free weather app is finally here and it’s no surprise that it was created by The Weather Channel [iTunes link].  It features the current conditions, an hourly forecast, a 36-hour forecast and a 10-day forecast.  I really like the hourly forecast.  Today, I see that the rain is going to start to pick up at around 6 p.m.  Very useful.

The “Explore Map” option (pictured, above) features doppler radar, which shows you exactly where it is raining, snowing or both.  Another extremely useful feature.

There’s also an updated video of the forecast for the major city near your area.  And finally, there’s a “Severe Weather Alerts” tab.  “The Weather Channel” can detect your location using your GPS if you allow it.

So, if you haven’t bought a full-featured weather app already, get “The Weather Channel.”  It’s free, and I highly recommend it.