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One minute it's brilliantly sunny, the next the heavens open and you're caught without an umbrella. We've all suffered at the hands of unpredictable weather.
But help is out there. Keep track of changes on the go with one of these mobile forecasters and make sure you have a fighting chance of catching the sun, whenever he may have his hat on.
Click on the gallery to see the IndyBest buys
8 best weather apps Show all 8 8 best weather apps Accuweather Not only does this provide minute-by-minute forecasts, you can also customise the app to hide information you don’t need to know. Very strong on UV levels (a particular boon if you are off on holiday), humidity, windspeed and, for skiers, snowfall.
Free, itunes.apple.com Free, play.google.com
8 best weather apps Horizon Calendar This is a simple app, no bells and whistles here, and yet is very effective. It combines a calendar app with the weather allowing you to plan ahead the right day for the BBQ at the weekend.
£2.99, itunes.apple.com
8 best weather apps The Weather Channel No matter whether you are in the St Tropez or St Moritz, this app can zero in on your location and tell you what the weather is going to be like over the next 10 days. The iPhone app also has a fun social media element to it as well, which allows users to upload their own weather reports along with geo-tagged pictures. It’s almost like being your own weatherman.
Free, itunes.apple.com Free, play.google.com
8 best weather apps Yahoo Weather This one won the Apple Design award last year. It combines location-based photography, pulled from Yahoo’s Flickr service, along with easy-to-follow forecasts. Extra details include heat and wind maps and sunrise and sunset times.
Free, itunes.apple.com Free, play.google.com
8 best weather apps Met Office Weather App Useful for anyone in the UK, the app provides push notifications for the Met Office’s severe weather warnings, so you always have time to get the waders on. Plus, it provides 5-day forecasts with everything from visibility, UV levels, humidity to sunset and sunrise times. If you just want to look one or two days ahead, there are hourly forecasts.
Free, itunes.apple.com Free, play.google.com
The nattily-design app isn’t stingy on features. It shows hours of sunshine per day, UV levels, cloud coverage as well as sunrise and sunset times. The best thing is the animated backgrounds which match up with the weather, changing from storms to hot, balmy yellows.
£1.99, itunes.apple.com
8 best weather apps Solar Heavily integrated with gesture controls Solar is a very tactile experience. Scroll up slowly to zoom forwards in time, minute by minute, as the app shows how the weather will change over 24 hours, with the screen colour mimicking time of day and temperature. Definitely the coolest app.
Free, itunes.apple.com Free, play.google.com
8 best weather apps Dark Sky The beautifully-designed Dark Sky app claims to know when it is going to rain down to the nearest half an hour and, on the basis of our tests, it seems reasonably accurate. Set up notifications to tell you when rain, or snow, is about to hit, so you never need get your hair wet.
£2.49, itunes.apple.com
Verdict
In terms of an app that not only shows you relevant details on how the weather will change, but also shows you it in clever new ways, Dark Sky is a winner.
Buy now
1. Accuweather, free on iPhone, iPad , Android . Also available on Windows Phone and Blackberry
2. Horizon Calendar, £2.99 on iPhone and iPad
3. The Weather Channel, free on iPhone and iPad , Android . Also available on Windows Phone and Blackberry.
4. Yahoo Weather, free on iPhone and iPad and Android
5. Met Office Weather App, free on iPhone and iPad and Android
6. Haze, £1.99 on iPhone and iPad
7. Solar, free on iPhone and iPad and Android
8. Dark Sky, £2.49 on iPhone and iPad