

Weather: On a Strictly Need to Know Basis - stuartjmoore
http://imsoocd.com/2010/01/18/weather/

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thrdOriginal
While I like the general point of the article (just tell me what I care
about), there are those of us for which the particular example doesn't exactly
work. I walk ~ 3 miles a day to and from work in Chicago. I have a thermometer
outside which has a digital display inside of both the temperature and a
digital "weather boy" whose clothing indicates how to dress. I check this
every (winter) morning. The weather boy is ok, but is not nearly specific
enough: a few degrees in either way can easily mean replacing a sweatershirt
layer with something warmer, adding a scarf, wearing long underwear, etc. At
this point, the pure number is far more important to me than any cute graphic
could be.

~~~
lutorm
I'm with you on wanting the full info. Though to be fair, you also really need
to know humidity and wind to make the decision.

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josefresco
What if the weather forecast is usually wrong? I live in a coastal area where
the weather is forecasted over a hundred miles away on the _mainland_ which is
typically wrong (despite local instruments).

Would be cool if the app allowed you to adjust for your own sense of what the
weather will be. For example the forecast today was for snow, but out here on
the water all we got is rain which is typical. Would be nice to be able to
skew forecasts based on your own crazy formulas.

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there
this is why i made <http://goingtorain.com> years ago because i rarely care
what the exact temperature is going to be, just whether it's going to rain.

similarly, i made a clock called pixelclock
(<http://jcs.org/notaweblog/2005/06/28/pixelclock/>) because all i cared about
at work was whether it was time for lunch or time to go home.

sometimes things are better left vague.

~~~
JacobAldridge
OT - I linked to goingtorain in one of my newsletters [1] last year, and every
now and then I still have people mention that they continue to use it. Thanks
muchly!

[1] <http://www.shirlawsonline.com/blogs/278-wet-season>

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alex_c
_I don’t need to see numbers [data], I need to see clothes [information]. Do I
watch out for ice, or can I be the care-free, reckless driver I always am? Do
I bring an umbrella? How many or few layer do I need? These are the things I
want to know. ∞_

Or maybe, rather than 10 pieces of information which may or may not be right
or complete, I can just get 2 pieces of data and draw my own conclusions.

I understand the general point of the post (I think), but this example just
doesn't do it for me. It bugs me for a number of reasons:

\- can it ever be always right, or at least right more often than I am? What
if I'm sick and need to bundle up more - do I have to give it health updates?
What if it's the first sunny, warm day after a long period of cold days, and I
FEEL like running around in a t-shirt? I still have to make these decisions
myself, but now I no longer have accurate raw data.

\- it assumes that every time I go outside it's for the same purpose (probably
going to work?) That makes me sad.

\- it triggers my mistrust of making things too easy. Oh, what a wonderful
world where none of us know what 60 degrees means (or 15, for us Celsius
fans), and where we have to depend on a computer to tell us how to dress.

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joeyh
Skeptical of the premise that temperature and weather is not worth the bother
to learn. We learn this stuff so we may effectively communicate with others.
Someone who was reliant on this app to tell them to wear a sweater would not
be able to function in these two common situations:

"Did you hear it'll be in the 60's and sunny tomorrow? Nice change after this
week of temps in the teens, huh?"

"This is your pilot speaking. Weather at our destination is forecast to be in
the lower 40's with scattered showers."

It also fails if I might be going to work by car, or might be biking. Chance
of rain is 30% -- I'd not worry about an umbrella in the car -- but if I'm
biking to work, I would want to make sure to have rain gear in the panniers.
The exact percentage, plus how I'm traveling, and where I'm going, all factor
into what I wear, and an app can't know.

What I would like to see is a UI that packs more weather info, ideally hourly
forecasts, into a small, easily scanned space.

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lmkg
Well, since we're all piling on with our clean, simple, straight-to-the-point
weather websites, I'll give the one I use.

<http://thefuckingweather.com/>

It reminds me of Ollie from Family Guy.

~~~
0wned
My favorite: "It's fucking cold!"

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iseff
A friend of mine is doing some interesting things -- mostly for women right
now -- very similar to this: <http://www.theweatherstylist.com>

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camccann
Counterpoint: If you want _more_ information, in the USA (or at least parts of
it) you can see your tax dollars at work with NOAA's weather graphs, like
this:
[http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?textField1=42.9612&...](http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?textField1=42.9612&textField2=-85.6557&FcstType=graphical)

Just in case you want to know things like "will it probably start raining
before 3pm" or "how windy will it be at 6:30pm".

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clc71186
<http://www.theweatherstylist.com> will make sure you are stylishly prepared
for the weather heading your way!

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spython
<http://obama-weather.com/> also started out as a weekend project, but looks
pretty usable now.

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mootothemax
A guy from the UK created a site that now works worldwide, although I'm not
sure if it's as important for a lot of people ;-)

<http://isitgoingtoraintoday.com/>

~~~
nir
well, it's easy in the UK, you basically accomplish it with "<h1>Yes</h1>" ;)

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z8000
This is a great idea and will make for a fun weekend project. Thanks for the
idea.

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hopeless
Another site along the same lines (though it could do with a major tidy up)

<http://www.doineedajacket.com/dinaj.asp?dinaj=EICK>

~~~
there

        Microsoft VBScript runtime  error '800a01a8'
    
        Object required: 'oC'
    
        /dinaj_referer.asp, line 225 
    

i can't tell, is it saying the object is the jacket and it's required?

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jcnnghm
This would be really useful, especially it it learned your habits over time.

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mrfish
Well when I was a kid I used to always say "Hey why do I have to wipe my own
ass." and now theres a app for that! Gods sake open a window and look outside!

