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When one doesn't have anything else to talk about... there's always the weather!
That's not exactly the case where this post is concerned. I have plenty to talk about, but right now my topic of choice is in fact... the weather. Not the weather as in whether is it hot or cold, sunny or cloudy, but weather information.
While eating my breakfast museli this morning I flipped nonchalantly through Sunday's newspaper. It usually takes me a week or more to get through the weekend papers! I came across a brief article about weather websites and information, and I was kind of amused by the content. It goes something like this...
"Weather websites and apps are attracting record numbers of Australians, with hundreds of thousands logging on to check forecasts".
I was amused because.... well, derr! Are not apps and online everything attracting record numbers of users? Seriously, mobile apps don't have a long history and unless you are living under a rock you would know that ever-increasing numbers of people are using the internet, whether that be via a desktop or laptop computer or a 'smart' phone. And this is news??
I have an android phone (Samsung Galaxy SII... and I LOVE it!) and one of the first things I do when I wake up in the morning is check the 'weather app'. I need to know if I can throw a load of washing in the machine and hang it out to dry before I head off to work or if I should plan to drive or take the train. The biggie of course is planning what to wear that day, based on what the weather is doing. And because we can't rely on the season at the moment (apparently it's such a free for all that even the trees are confused*) our only hope is to access an accurate up-to-date weather forecast. It is so quick and easy to do that from a 'smart' phone! (Do you remember when you could 'dial the weather'?)
I've been accessing the weather online for years. First the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and in more recent years The Weather Channel (because it is 'prettier'). I even have weather widgets on the desktop of my office and home computers, and as already mentioned, a weather app on my phone. I think I might even add a weather button to my blog. Weather information is everywhere... and much of it is more accurate than the forecast available on the 6 o'clock news.
Do you get your weather info from websites and apps?
*Information gleaned from an undisclosed Sydney breakfast radio show
Yes, yes, yes I use weatherzone on my iPhone and the weather channel on my iPad. But usually the weather apps give me too much information, because the only things I need to know are what to wear and can I put washing on the line ;)
ReplyDeleteI do all of those - I also have my Mother regularly ring me from Spain to inform me of OUR weather - I do love to confuse her when she tells me we have gales by saying - 'but I'm looking out of the window right now and the sun is shining' (little things ...:)
ReplyDeleteYep, absolutely! I got an iPad for Christmas (squeal!!) and one of the first apps I put on it was weather zone.
ReplyDeleteYES!!!
ReplyDeleteI often sing that Simon and Garfunkle line to my farmer boy 'I get all the news I need from the weather report...' he is totally weather obsessed. He has about 5 weather apps on his phone. I only have two. But like you, they are visited often.
I usually get the weather forecast from my husband. He gets it from his android phone. I don't have a smart phone, so I don't waste my valuable online time on the weather. Not when I can get the forecast from other people ;)
ReplyDeleteWell in Darwin there is no need to check the weather. It's always not and it might rain. The bureau seems to have no more idea about rain than anyone else. It comes when it feels like it.
ReplyDeleteBut Boatman is weather obsessed! He checks it all the time, and usually when I open the iPad its weather sites that are open!