Different weather and winter specific forecasting Websites, Apps & Maps. What are you using?

[MidnightJester]

So some of the basic weather sites that at least give a idea of current and future weather patterns.
What else do you use for your winter fun planning? What weather apps & sites have you come across? Are some better or worse for their winter weather predictions? It seems the two I list must use slightly different weather prediction models.

National and Local Weather Radar, Daily Forecast, Hurricane and information from The Weather Channel and weather.com

The Weather Channel and weather.com provide a national and local weather forecast for cities, as well as weather radar, report and hurricane coverage

weather.com

https://www.accuweather.com/

Just started to use this site recently and it seems the site is computer AI text generated through data points it draws from.

Snow Forecast, Snow Reports & Snow Conditions

Detailed Snow Forecast, Snow Reports, Live Weather conditions, Webcams and Reviews for thousands of ski resorts around the World.

www.snow-forecast.com

Accuweather's web site seems it is a little too filled with adds and tougher to navigate on the multi day 10 day forecasts but their phone app works smoother.

 

[ThatGuy]

Best is forecast.weather.gov point and click. Anything beyond what they predict is guesswork imo.

 

[djd66]

https://www.mountain-forecast.com/ I like the simplicity of this site and very little advertising.

 

[parahelia]

I agree that the point-and-click option on forecast.weather.gov is the best for a consensus forecast for a mountain/elevation of your choice.

I also like to keep an eye on what the various models are showing to see if there are trends in the longer-term outlook. None of the sites has all the functionality I'd like but I use weathermodels.com the most; it has a yearly cost (~$100) but since I also use it professionally I don't mind. Usually I look at the map showing precip type and pressure (MSLP), it lets me see run to run changes in the placement of the low pressure systems. For the long range (3-7 days) I look at the GFS and ECMWF models. Inside 3 days I look at the NAM medium-range model. Within 36 hours I look at the HRRR which has hourly resolution and can be helpful for determine driving windows; most of its runs only look out 18 hours but every 6 hours they do a 48 hour run.

Tropicaltidbits.com is free and has the very useful ability to toggle between different model runs, which makes it easier to see trends. But it doesn't have the precip type rendering for GFS/ECMWF (though you can approximate it with the 1000-500 mb thickness) so I find it a little more annoying to use.

 

[MidnightJester]

Best is forecast.weather.com point and click. Anything beyond what they predict is guesswork imo.

is the site forecast.weather.com or www.Weather.gov

 

[parahelia]

is the site forecast.weather.com or www.forecast.weather.GOV

Whoops - forecast.weather.gov; edited my response. I'm sure anywhere you go to at weather.com will just throw up a zillion ads and trackers.

 

[tumbler]

is the site forecast.weather.com or https://www.weather.gov/

It's .GOV. The government has the most accurate weather since they are controlling it.

 

[Edd]

For apps, the stock Weather app on iOS has significantly improved as a result of Apple purchasing Dark Sky. There's just sooo much more information now. Prior to this, that app was close to useless.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

lol he said weather.com and accuweather!

 

[Kingslug20]

Lately...just sticking my nose out the door.

Oh.look...it's snowing again.....

 

[ss20]

OpenSnow is fantastic with the subscription. Mountain-specific forecasts with detailed information with a write-up for each region in the US/CA.

NOAA is great but it is point-n-click.

Snow-forecast is total garbage. It takes data from the GFS only and spews it out.

Spend 15 minutes a night learning about weather models and reading the NOAA forecast discussion for your area. Within a week you'll know more than 95% of others and be able to make very informed discussions.

 

[Kingslug20]

There are some you tube channels that have good info to learn from..

 

[BodeMiller1]

Every one of them feeds off NOAA. For quick reports NECN fits my needs.

New England News Channel es optimus.

edit : We all know that predicting weather in the North East Mountains is not a science butt an Art. Guy above is right, if it's snowing it's snowing, if it's not....
When you get above 1,500 in these parts it changes minute by minute. That's why so many people "buy the farm" around here, they don't understand or try.
Blind Ambition if you will...

 

[Kingslug20]

I know when it's snowing at my house..it's definitely snowing at Bolton..

 

[abc]

Opensnow.com

But it’s no free any more. Still, worth the money for me.

 

[ThatGuy]

Can do unlimited free trails anyway

 

[Scottyskis2]

Facebook local forecasts group s from where I live are excellent at predictions of winter snow fell and have been for years tomorrow forecasts from very reibile Hudson Valley NY I think that most regions in ne us all have these people for several years now
Below is latest update for my home regions NY Catskill s souh east and west for about 90 miles outside the higher elevations to where I live
Some Evening Thoughts-

The short and long of it.

Forecast remains intact and on track, no real need for any changes of this evening. Wanted to take a moment to explain the current set up and why the forecast is going to evolve the way that it is.

But first let’s get the details out of the way. (Images 1,2,3) are the current hires snowfall projections from three models, the HRRR,NAM and RDPS. The data all paints a similar picture, a nose of warm air both aloft and at the surface pushing up the river valley and limiting snowfall amounts, more snow in the hill towns east and west of the valley and high elevation snowfall amounts exceeding six inches above 1500’.

Snow May break out as early at 9-11AM in the form of early frontogenesis as the warm front pushes north, this can be funny as they can leave some areas out of the action initially as a band of precip will lift north through the region and some southern zones may see a late morning lull in precipitation. You can kinda see this on (image four) which is the simulated radar for 9AM. By 12-1PM overrunning precipitation has broken out region wide. This initial burst of precipitation is where the entire region will make or break the snowfall forecast, with the exception of the higher elevations.

Snow may fall heavily along and north of i84 between 11-6PM, all the while warmer air will be pushing north into the region, southern most zones may only see a very brief period of snow resulting in a trace to a coating. As you head further north the duration of snowfall before changeover increases, therefore so do the amounts. The range in our snow forecast for the valley locations (black) should be digested based on your location, further south (lower end), further north (higher end), locations on the valley floor nearest to the river will warm the fastest.

The 9AM initial burst of snow can impact the morning commute, that mid afternoon into late afternoon snow will impact the afternoon commute. Between 4PM and 8pm heavy rain will be pushing into the region from south to north adding to the mess and complexity and erasing earlier snowfall. This is shown in (Images 4,5,6) which is the the HRRR simulated radar for 9AM,4PM and 8PM.

(Image 7) is our snow forecast which doesn’t differ much from our forecast last night, in a set up like this it’s best to aim low and keep snow amount expectations low, it will be a brief albeit potentially heavy period of snowfall before the change over.

Finally the reason why the forecast and many others have evolved in this manner. (Images 8 and 9.)

While we do have some cold air in place ahead of the system with lows tonight dropping below freezing in many locations, it’s a decaying airmass, and transient cold that is being evicted from the region by a warm front associated with a low pressure cutting to our west.

In the fourth image I have highlighted both the high pressure responsible for our cold air and marked the the flow around a high pressure is clockwise while the flow around low pressure is counterclockwise. The high pressure is retreating to the east, no longer supplying cold air from Canada into the region the question mark notes the missing high pressure from the previous image. Meanwhile the low pressure tracking to our east is pumping warmer air north into the region. Warm air is light and cold air is heavier and dense, when warm air is forced into cold air, it’s forced up and over it. This lift creates precipitation, otherwise known as overrunning precipitation.

When a cold air mass is not deep and well established the atmosphere eventually warms from the top down and the warm air scours out the colder air. This results in snow changing over to sleet and eventually rain. In the final image you can see that although a secondary low pressure does eventually form offshore it’s weaker than its parent low to our west. If the offshore low was the primary or energy was transferred to it, colder air would be able to rush back into the region, because our flow would no longer be out of the south. This has been a repetitive pattern this season and last, which is another topic for a less busy day! """

-Alex""
From Hudson Valley Facebook group
at few hundred feet.
"""

 

[MidnightJester]

Powderchasers

powderchasers.com

 

[Abominable]

For apps, the stock Weather app on iOS has significantly improved as a result of Apple purchasing Dark Sky. There's just sooo much more information now. Prior to this, that app was close to useless.

Dark Sky was one of the few paid apps I had on my phone, and I was disppointed they took it away. The Apple Weather app is just not as slick (for me) with the presentation.

 

[Kingslug20]

Weather reports for PC..foggy...stick nose out door..snowing
The nose..knows...