I am almost in tears. Have I ever asked anything from the reader, before? I am going to ask for something now.
No, I don't want you to click on something that will redound to my bank account. Nor do I want you to go to my Patreon page. (I ain't got one.)
All I ask for is advice on a decent weather website or app.
Is that a humble request or what? Actually it would be vital information. So far "Pocket Rain Gauge" is the best app I know of. It gives one -- and only one --piece of information: the MEASURED RAINFALL ACCUMULATION at my present location over the last 24 hours. It updates the number every hour.
Perfect! Except for one thing: it only gives the accumulation at my present location. If I want to know about someplace else -- and a traveler IS interested in several other places -- it just won't cooperate.
The big name weather websites probably give the rainfall accumulation in some obscure place, gotten to by stepping down through the menu to level 13 or so.
Meanwhile they bury you under forecasts about the stupid temperature and whether there is a 45% chance of "precipitation." What in the hell does that mean? Three drops or three inches?
Most ridiculous is the television weather news. They get you worried (!?) about rain this upcoming weekend. And after this next commercial break, they will finally stop teasing you. You are supposed to sit on the edge of your sofa, staring nervously at the boob toob, and chewing your fingernails.
And then they tell you the temperature, temperature, temperature... Who the hell cares!? It's summer. It will be hot and sunny. That isn't a forecast -- it is a horrifying certainty. Besides, most Americans sit behind air conditioning all day.
But the fake blond cutie with the nice legs -- an official meteorologist, you know -- has now pronounced her forecast, based on her sophisticated computer models.
Good gawd, people, this is all just fake news, aimed at getting you to watch one more commercial.
Are the media's weather forecasts any more worthless than other types of "news" that people consume from these hateful little screens that run our lives for us?
Since people only "know" what they see on the screen, how is the entire idea of democracy anything more than ridiculous?
No, I don't want you to click on something that will redound to my bank account. Nor do I want you to go to my Patreon page. (I ain't got one.)
All I ask for is advice on a decent weather website or app.
Is that a humble request or what? Actually it would be vital information. So far "Pocket Rain Gauge" is the best app I know of. It gives one -- and only one --piece of information: the MEASURED RAINFALL ACCUMULATION at my present location over the last 24 hours. It updates the number every hour.
Perfect! Except for one thing: it only gives the accumulation at my present location. If I want to know about someplace else -- and a traveler IS interested in several other places -- it just won't cooperate.
The big name weather websites probably give the rainfall accumulation in some obscure place, gotten to by stepping down through the menu to level 13 or so.
Meanwhile they bury you under forecasts about the stupid temperature and whether there is a 45% chance of "precipitation." What in the hell does that mean? Three drops or three inches?
Most ridiculous is the television weather news. They get you worried (!?) about rain this upcoming weekend. And after this next commercial break, they will finally stop teasing you. You are supposed to sit on the edge of your sofa, staring nervously at the boob toob, and chewing your fingernails.
And then they tell you the temperature, temperature, temperature... Who the hell cares!? It's summer. It will be hot and sunny. That isn't a forecast -- it is a horrifying certainty. Besides, most Americans sit behind air conditioning all day.
But the fake blond cutie with the nice legs -- an official meteorologist, you know -- has now pronounced her forecast, based on her sophisticated computer models.
Good gawd, people, this is all just fake news, aimed at getting you to watch one more commercial.
Are the media's weather forecasts any more worthless than other types of "news" that people consume from these hateful little screens that run our lives for us?
Since people only "know" what they see on the screen, how is the entire idea of democracy anything more than ridiculous?
Comments
Why treat the single most important piece of information like an obscure footnote?
Where do the geeks live who designed this website? Seattle?
Still, I wish they didn't give you a messy, crabbed spreadsheet. I prefer something elegantly simple like the Pocket Rain Gauge app.
My suggestion:.....WINDY.COM...or Windy.com...
Works for me..
Buy an Umbrella, move to seattle along with sunglasses and lose them both within a week?
But I can't find where Windy.com gives the MEASURED accumulation over the last 24 hours. It is still giving a forecast, not a measurement of what actually happened.
What good is a forecast? Forecasts don't settle the dust. MEASUREMENTS do.
But I will check out Wunderground. (They are just a subsidiary of Weather.com these days, aren't they?)
Why do all these guys obsess on their forecasts? Forecasts are just computer models.
When that happens I go to https://www.weather.gov/ enter the city and then click on 3 Day History. This will give rainfall accumulations sometimes, but not always, depending on the location that you select. There is also "Get Yearly Precip Total (non QA/QC'd data)" which may or may not be information that you want.
DON't click on History, click on the Station Name. When that page opens scroll down to Weather History and select Daily, Weekly or Monthly Mode and the time period you wish to see. Then select 'Table' which may require selecting one day in the table and scrolling to display the Accumulated rainfall in the far right column. If your only concerned with the past couple of days just click on the 'Previous' for the days you wish to see.