Whether you live in the mountains or the city, satellite weather apps are a great way to stay informed on what’s happening where you are. They also allow you to track storms and other severe weather events as they happen.
RadarScope is one of the best and most trusted weather radar apps on the market. It uses NEXRAD Level 3 and Super-Resolution radar data to display detailed images of the world around you.
RadarScope
RadarScope is a specialized radar display app designed for weather enthusiasts and meteorologists. It allows mobile, Mac, and tablet users to view NEXRAD Level 3 and Level 2 radar data along with tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood, special marine and snow squall warnings issued by the U.S. National Weather Service.
This top-rated app uses native radar data rendered in its original radial format for the highest resolution images possible. It also has a number of features that allow you to better understand what is happening on the radar.
The app displays the latest reflectivity, velocity, dual-polarization, and other products from any NEXRAD or TDWR radar site in the United States, Canada, Guam, Puerto Rico, Korea, and Okinawa. It also provides extended radar loops, non-gridded lightning data feed, real-time shear contours, and a 30-day archive of all radar products.
You can zoom in and out on the map using a mouse or pinch gestures on multi-touch trackpads, change the product being displayed by tapping the name of the product on the color legend, and find your location by tapping the map icon in the lower left corner of the screen. You can also copy the currently displayed map to the clipboard or save it in several common image formats.
A premium subscription unlocks a variety of features that enhance your experience with the app. In addition to all the features in Tier One, Pro Tier Two subscribers get access to a 30 day archive of all radar products, local storm reports, hail size and probability contours, and azimuthal shear contours in the United States.
WeatherRadarUSA
WeatherRadarUSA is an easy-to-use satellite weather app that presents current and future radar information at your location. It offers accurate forecasts of temperature, wind, chance of rain or thunder, duration of sunshine and storm risk. It also provides detailed data on air pressure, humidity and UV Index.
This app uses NOAA NEXRAD data and auto-checks for new data every 2.5 minutes. It features two resolutions and a 7-day forecast with severe weather alerts.
It’s a great choice for users who need a more detailed weather radar app than the standard weather apps provide. It uses over a quarter of a million PWS points to provide local weather on a scale that most other apps can’t compete with.
The only real downside to WeatherRadarUSA is that it’s rife with ads, so you’ll need to be careful when browsing through the data. However, if you’re looking for an honest-to-goodness weather radar, it’s the best option on this list.
As a bonus, WeatherRadarUSA also lets you configure a hurricane tracker, which will alert you to tropical storms or hurricanes. This is especially helpful if you’re traveling to hurricane-prone areas this season.
Basically, this is a very simple and intuitive application that shows you live weather radar from multiple sources, allowing you to see where precipitation will be falling for about half of the world. It can be a little confusing at first, but it’s an excellent option if you need a quick and accurate look at the weather for your current location.
The Weather Network – Forecasts & Alerts
If you are looking for a satellite weather app that will give you the latest information on severe weather, then The Weather Network – Forecasts & Alerts is one of the best options. This app offers a wide range of features, including current, hourly, short-term and 14-day forecasts, severe weather alerts, radar maps, air quality reports, and pollen and UV indexes.
The Weather Network also uses location data to send real-time weather notifications to your phone and tablet when severe weather is detected near your home or business, or when an emergency alert has been issued for your saved locations. Simply sign in to your account on the website or save your favorite locations on the mobile app and you can receive alerts wherever you go.
This weather app is a top pick for its high reliability and accurate, up-to-date forecasts that are based on the latest research. It also has live radar, severe weather alerts, and an easy-to-use interface.
CARROT Weather provides detailed weather forecasts, including temperature, wind, humidity, precipitation and air pressure. It also features a quirky AI that gives you daily tips and advice like, “Make the most of this nice weather that I generated for you” or, “Stay inside until it gets really cold”. The app also offers a variety of settings for the app’s humor-infused AI, allowing users to adjust the level of snarkiness the app uses.
Windy
Windy (also known as Windyty) is a powerful, intuitive and detailed weather visualization app. It’s trusted by professional pilots, paragliders, skydivers, kiters, surfers, boaters, fishermen, storm chasers and weather geeks.
The app combines satellite data from NOAA, EUMETSAT and Himawari for an impressive global composite view. It also offers 42 different map layers, including wind gusts, visibility and snow depth. Moreover, you can zoom forward 10 days to see the forecasted weather.
In addition, the app’s radar imagery is smoothed to make it look attractive. But this smoothing causes some inaccuracies, especially when zoomed in.
Another feature that makes this app stand out is its ability to add a personal layer of information to each individual radar image. You can choose to show rain or cloud cover, add a weather model, and even browse through precipitation forecasts.
On top of that, the app includes a variety of other useful features such as a timeline of recent weather events, and a radar selection tool. Users can even set the app to alert them when severe weather is in the forecast.
The app is available on both iOS and Android, and it supports Apple Watch’s custom watch face functionality. To create a Windy watch face, simply tap the “Watch Faces” button on the main menu. From there, you can select the Windy weather widget and add it to your watch screen.
AccuWeather
AccuWeather is one of the most popular satellite weather apps on the App Store, offering hourly and daily forecasts along with radar. It also features a variety of weather alerts and warnings, including severe thunderstorms, flash floods, tornadoes, and even special marine warnings.
You can also get detailed information on current temperatures, humidity levels, UV index, dew point, visibility, cloud cover and wind speed and direction. All of this information is presented in an easy-to-navigate layout that lets you quickly find the information you need.
In addition, the latest update to AccuWeather’s Android app revamps the forecasts page with a new graph view that provides easier access to data. This makes it more efficient to navigate than the previous list view, which can be a bit cumbersome to use.
The update also includes themed icon support on Google’s latest phones, allowing you to change the homescreen icon of the app to match your system accent colors. The update is available now on Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy devices.
AccuWeather is a world-class provider of weather content, serving nearly 2 billion users and generating over 30 billion API data requests per day. Its API Developer Portal allows developers to easily access the weather data they need to develop innovative new weather experiences.
Wx
Wx is a great weather app that’s packed full of features and is available as a free download. It offers users minute-by-minute and hourly forecasts for temperature and rain, along with a 10-day weather forecast.
The app is based on data from government institutions and academic institutions which means you’ll never get any inaccurate information when it comes to what the weather conditions are going to be like in your area. It also comes with a number of helpful alerts if you want to be aware of any severe weather events that may be coming your way, so be sure to keep it installed on your device!
Another great feature of this app is that it has Doppler radar imagery that’s up to date in real-time; this makes it incredibly accurate and precise as it shows you exactly what’s happening within your forecasted area. It even lets you see live lightning strikes which is a great way to plan your day accordingly and avoid getting caught out by sudden changes in the weather.
The app is crafted with attention to detail by a professional software developer who has 28 years of experience, 14 years focused on developing weather software for OS X and 11 years writing apps for iOS devices. It has multiple levels of redundancy to handle severe weather events that can strain NWS servers and it offers network settings for both Wi-Fi and cellular operation so you can fine tune the app’s performance and bandwidth needs.