A lot of people have noticed that the temperatures reported on their app are way off. For example, right now (just after 2pm) the Apple iphone app says it is 52 F in Savannah, but my weather station (with a calibrated thermometer) says it’s 45 F. Click on Parkside on the NWS site and you see that the nearest reporting station at Hunter Army Airfield is also reporting 45F …
Why is that?
One of the many reasons I don’t like or use apps for weather is that they often are showing you models to report “current” conditions. They do that for several reasons, most of which have to do with wanting a prettier picture and ease of processing rather than giving you good info. In this case, the models are pretty much all running 5 to 10 degrees too warm for coastal Georgia/SC. Here is what the HRRR model was showing at 1pm. HRRR runs every hour, and as you can see it was quite a bit off. The red contour lines are model temperature, looking at Savannah International, it was reporting 38F at 1pm, the model forecast was showing 42 F, which is what the App was showing. Sylvania (JYL airport) was reporting 31F, the model said 35F.
So when you download that TV weather station app, or use the built in apps on your devices, keep in mind it may not be showing you what you think it is. More often than not it isn’t “live” data, it is reporting model forecasts for what it thinks are at your location, based on data that may be several hours old! As usual your best bet is the National Weather Service web site. That’s where virtually all of the data and warnings come from anyway, best to get it from the source.
Thank you! I was just musing to my wife about this, today has felt especially egregious
Thank you for knowing all this detailed and accurate information, and for helping us to understand it!
What day should we start to cover outdoor plants?
In Savannah, I’m going to cover them tomorrow afternoon. Tonight won’t go below freezing, but Monday night/Tuesday morning looks to hit the 20s. Then several (4-5?) days of below freezing at night, which is fine by me to kill some bugs!
Glad that’s cleared up. Thought it was impossible to buy an accurate thermometer.
I hate the weather apps! The hourly weather forecast at the bottom right of that NWS page in your post is about all I use. More details in a less-pretty UI is totally fine by me….
Funny, we were just noticing this very thing this morning here on Oak Island, NC.
Thank you for explaining why I was colder than sh.t when it was supposed to be warmer.
It was at least 10 degrees colder on our home weather station as well! Crazy!