BBCWeather
Latest
People aren’t happy with the BBC’s big weather redesign
Today, the BBC is launching a major redesign of its popular weather forecast services — and some Brits are furious. It all started in 2015 when the broadcaster announced it was ditching the Met Office and looking for a new provider of accurate weather data. MeteoGroup was eventually crowned the winner and work began to overhaul the technical architecture underpinning the BBC's much-loved TV bulletins, mobile apps and website. The new web and mobile designs were rolled out to "some users" last month and the reaction was overwhelmingly negative. On a blog post written by the BBC's Michael Burnett, one user commented: "You seemed to have ruined what was a superb site with a wealth of information."
BBC picks new weather partner after 93 years with the Met Office
Although it's been almost a year since the BBC announced its 93-year partnership with the Met Office was coming to an end, the broadcaster didn't have replacement lined up at the time. During those months, it has considered bids from various new providers and ran what it calls "an open competition" to select a supplier who would appease licence payers by delivering high-quality services while keeping costs low. Today, the BBC confirmed that Netherlands-based Meteogroup was able to meet those requirements, allowing it to take over from the Met Office from spring 2017.
BBC to stop using Met Office weather data after 93 years
For almost a century, the Met Office has supplied the BBC with weather data for its daily forecasts. Its predictions aren't always correct, and they're often a depressing end to TV news bulletins, but they hold an important role in British culture. Until now, that is. The BBC says it's looking for an alternative provider "to make sure we secure both the best possible service and value for money." The Met Office, an executive agency under the UK's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, has called the news "disappointing."
BBC Weather app comes to iPad
Back in June the BBC released its first weather app for iPhone. It got off to rave reviews, but many bemoaned the lack of iPad support. But no longer, as today the BBC has introduced version 1.1 of BBC Weather with full support for the iPad. In addition to iPad support, the new BBC Weather app also offers a number of additional features including the ability to view weather warnings from the menu page, a new nighttime ambience mode and the ability to share forecasts. What's New in Version 1.1.0 - Full iPad support - Weather warnings now available from menu page - Design changes for consistency with iOS 7 - Nighttime ambience - Users can now share forecasts - Some minor bug fixes BBC Weather is a universal app and a free download.
Weathertron for iOS forecasts the weather accurately, uniquely
Weathertron (US$0.99) is a new and unique weather app for iOS. There are many weather apps available on the iOS App Store. Most of them tell the weather with a number to indicate the temperature and a graphic to show whether it's sunny, overcast, raining, etc. However, to get more information, like five-day or hour-by-hour forecasts, you need to dig a bit deeper. The Met Office weather app is a bit like this. There's a wealth of information, but it's not necessarily the easiest to navigate or interpret from a glance. Then there are some weather apps that fly in the face of tradition, like Solar, that are beautifully simple. They give you an idea of what the weather is and what it's going to be, but more insight can be hard to come by. Finally, there are weather apps that merge the best of both of these worlds. My personal favorite is the BBC Weather app. But recently I was introduced to Weathertron, which takes a slightly different approach to displaying the weather. Aggregating weather data from 16 different weather models, Weathertron displays 12 hours of weather in a unique visualizer or infographic at a single glance. Not only do you see the current temperature at the top of the screen, you can also see the expected high and low for the day, when it will hit and everything in between, giving you a minute-by-minute temperature forecast. Additionally, the infographic also displays clouds, rain and snow, making it really to see if there's heavy rain on the way and when it might arrive or that the clouds are going to part and there's sunshine for the rest of the day. With a tap and hold you can scroll round the infographic to find out what the weather will be at an exact point of the day, too. And with a tap on "tomorrow" you'll see the same level of detail for tomorrow's forecast, too. It took me a little while to get used to all the information and how to interpret it, but once you get your head round what you're looking at you realise the depth of information that's on the screen. It's all presented in a really spacious and well-laid-out format that's crisp, clean and uncluttered. With a few taps there's a whole lot more information to be had. Tap on the current forecast temperature to see sunrise and sunset times for the day. Tapping on the graph at the bottom right of the screen will take you to a seven-day forecast with highs and lows, cloud and rain. The way the highs and lows are laid out on the graph makes it easy for you to see straight away the warmest and coolest days coming in the week ahead before you've even looked at the temperatures. It's so simple, but really informative. My only gripe with Weathertron is that you can't have multiple cities lined up to switch between forecasts easily. You need to enter in the name of a city before you can view it. Hopefully Weathertron developers Keming Labs will address this in an upcoming update. Regardless, Weathertron is one of the best weather apps I've used on my iPhone. Which weather app do you use on your iOS device? Let us know in the comments below.
