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white4s

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 15, 2011
1,626
344
New Jersey
In regards to the rain graphic I noticed they're different: Does it mean light, medium & heavy?

IMG_7357.jpg
 

MacCheetah3

macrumors 68020
Nov 14, 2003
2,283
1,219
Central MN
This really confuses me. Daily will have a certain amount of rain predicted but there's barely a blip on the graph sometimes.

 
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ignatius345

macrumors 604
Aug 20, 2015
7,608
13,018
This really confuses me. Daily will have a certain amount of rain predicted but there's barely a blip on the graph sometimes.
I find it so dumb that a day where there's a chance of rain in the afternoon gets slapped with basically the same label as a day that's forecast nonstop rain.

TBH, when I want a good, in depth forecase I look at NOAA's hourly forecast graphic for my location. It gives a ton of data in a really intuitive (IMO) format.

Also lets you track dewpoint easily, which is absolutely the best metric for humidity. Relative humidity jumps all over the place with the temperature, but dewpoint is stable and tells you a lot about how the air actually feels. Anything over about 60° dewpoint starts to feel humid, regardless of temperature.
 

Analog Kid

macrumors G3
Mar 4, 2003
9,360
12,603
I find it so dumb that a day where there's a chance of rain in the afternoon gets slapped with basically the same label as a day that's forecast nonstop rain.

The Weather app has a pretty good timeline view that shows when rain is expected.

Predicting rain is tough to message. I think the day shows rain if any rain is expected so people know it might get wet sometime while they're out. That timeline view will give you more detail on when, to the best of the apps ability. Percent chance of rain is tough to explain also-- is it the chance that it will rain anywhere in a given region or the chance that you're likely to see rain or the percent of time it will be raining or the precent of the region that will get wet or...

People tend to react more strongly to being told no rain and then getting wet as opposed to being told rain and not seeing any. I think weather providers account for that.
 
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cawsllyffant

macrumors newbie
Sep 28, 2017
15
17
Talking about weather is difficult. When they say "30% chance of rain," it can be difficult to parse it. A few years ago, I listened to a podcast episode that I keep handy whenever these kinds of discussions come up. https://www.theallusionist.org/allusionist/warm-front?rq=weather. [There's a transcript if you don't want to listen to the whole thing.]

But the relevant quote is :
NATE BYRNE: True, true, but if you say “a chance” you're not promising too much, are you? But the thing is, a chance of a shower actually has meaning for a meteorologist: 30 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent chance of showers, that is a meaningful thing. Here, we’re predicting the future. And also you’re forecasting for a given area over a given time period. I don't know where you're about to be in 20 minutes time. I don't know if it is going to rain where you are, where you're going to be; but I know the area that you might be in if you're hanging out in Melbourne for the day, and I can tell you that about half of Melbourne is going to experience a shower at some point during the day today. So if I say a 50 percent chance of a shower, that means there's a good chance that 50 percent of this area that I'm forecasting for will see some wet weather.
 
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MisterSavage

macrumors 601
Nov 10, 2018
4,849
5,748


Not talking about the percent chance graph, but the precipitation amount chart. I'm looking at a future day that has 0.4" for the day predicted. But there's only one rain entry on the chart and it's for less than 0.05".

I find it so dumb that a day where there's a chance of rain in the afternoon gets slapped with basically the same label as a day that's forecast nonstop rain.

TBH, when I want a good, in depth forecase I look at NOAA's hourly forecast graphic for my location. It gives a ton of data in a really intuitive (IMO) format.

Also lets you track dewpoint easily, which is absolutely the best metric for humidity. Relative humidity jumps all over the place with the temperature, but dewpoint is stable and tells you a lot about how the air actually feels. Anything over about 60° dewpoint starts to feel humid, regardless of temperature.
Thank you. I bookmarked that.
 
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eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
29,628
28,399
…or the weather outside if I’m being honest.
I gave up on the iOS/MacOS weather app(s) quite some time ago. The problem, as I read somewhere else, is the forecast model that most weather apps tend to rely on. You never know which model the app will use and most of the models are largely dependent on flat terrain. So, if you live in an area with hills/mountains/etc then the model is more likely to be wrong.

But the iOS/MacOS app tends to be wrong way more than other weather apps. I just use something else.

Another thing in my area is that the forecast can change based on distance. Most of the forecast info in the apps or on TV is centered around Sky Harbor airport (I live in Phoenix, AZ). I'm about 20 miles northwest of Sky Harbor and the forecast here is very different. Temps are usually 5 degrees off and with the Apple apps it's usually about 8-10 degrees off and doing the opposite.

For most people that doesn't matter much, but a difference of 5 degrees matters quite a bit out here when you're talking 110º F or 115º F.

I also tend to ignore what any forecaster around here says about rain. They are mainly speaking of the East Valley, although they tell you it's the forecast for the entire area. But when they say it's going to rain, it will rain in the East Valley precisely as they predicted and the West Valley (where I live) will remain bone dry.

It's nuts just the disparity of all the weather apps and the forecasters out here and what is actually present outside my door.
 

MBAir2010

macrumors 604
May 30, 2018
6,975
6,354
there
my iPad weather app says "will stop raining in 46 minutes"

47 minutes later,
the clouds stopped raining!
 

mattoruu

macrumors 6502
Oct 25, 2014
329
721
I never paid that close of attention to the icons. But now that you have pointed it out… yeah. There are like four or so slightly different rain icons. There two rain icons that are almost exactly the same except for the tinniest difference.
 
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white4s

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 15, 2011
1,626
344
New Jersey
I never paid that close of attention to the icons. But now that you have pointed it out… yeah. There are like four or so slightly different rain icons. There two rain icons that are almost exactly the same except for the tinniest difference.

Me either and just randomly last week it stood out to me.

I forgot to answer this. I can get their meaning from either the SF Symbols app or by turning on VoiceOver.

Sat is heavy rain, Thu is drizzle, the rest are rain.

Thought so, it makes sense after all. Thank you
 
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