Thunderstorm season is right here, and for pilots meaning one factor: climate consciousness turns into much more important. Luckily, your iPad or iPhone can ship highly effective climate instruments proper to your fingertips—no have to dig by means of a clunky web site. However with 1000’s of climate apps within the App Retailer, how are you aware which of them are price your time?
Most common climate apps are high quality for planning an outside exercise, however aviation calls for extra—radar, cloud tops, freezing ranges, and fast-changing techniques. That’s why we’ve curated a listing of the ten greatest climate apps for pilots, every one providing a singular set of options that can assist you plan smarter and fly safer this storm season.
Listed below are our high 10 greatest climate apps for pilots:
Climate Spork gives an in depth profile view of present and forecast climate.
10. Station Climate. This app is tough to beat for a fast test of a number of METARs and NOTAMs. It additionally does a pleasant job of displaying forecasts in a visible manner, so you may get a very good really feel for when situations will change. It additionally affords help for giant climate widgets (requires a Professional subscription), which lets you view present METAR reviews for as much as 4 airports concurrently on the iPad dwelling display. Get the app right here.
9. WeatherSpork. This distinctive app is a companion to a full digital flight bag app like ForeFlight. The main target right here is long-term planning and big-picture visualization: what’s the perfect time to go away vs. what’s the present METAR. The app incorporates a singular set of views that can assist you visualize the ambiance and transcend the usual reviews. We notably just like the Grid View that graphically shows climate forecasts for the assorted factors alongside your entered route, for a fast evaluation of VFR/MVFR/IFR/LIFR situations. It additionally features a wealth of climate imagery merchandise, eliminating the must seek out the extra superior forecast graphics on aviationweather.gov. The app is free to obtain and check out for 14 days; an annual subscription is $49.99. Get the app right here.
8. Ventusky. In all probability our winner for the perfect general design, this app contains each conventional climate forecasts (rain and temperature) and extra aviation-specific graphics (wind velocity and radar). When you’re a pupil of climate, Ventusky lets you decide which mannequin the app is utilizing. That is excellent for evaluating a number of eventualities and testing your individual private forecast expertise. Glorious for getting the massive image understanding of the sky. Get the app right here.
CloudTopper lets you visualize the peak of clouds alongside your flight path.
7. CloudTopper. This will likely not technically be a climate app, but it surely’s helpful in flight when coping with climate. CloudTopper, simply $1.99, is the reply to the ever-present query, “Are we going to high these clouds?” Utilizing the iPad or iPhone’s built-in gyro and digicam, it lets you level your cellphone on the clouds forward, get it precisely degree and see whether or not or not these clouds are above you. You may even enter your estimated distance to the clouds and the app will estimate what number of ft you would want to climb to get on high. Nice for VFR and IFR pilots alike, CloudTopper was up to date to help full-screen on iPad and auto-calibration. Get the app right here
6. METARs Aviation Climate. Whereas loads of apps present you textual content climate reviews, this $6.99 app is a quick and simple approach to test the most recent situations with out plenty of muddle. Set your favourite airports, then monitor VFR/MVFR/IFR/LIFR with color-coded icons. Plain English translations make it straightforward to grasp all the small print on that lengthy METAR, too. However our favourite function is the customizable notifications, which permits the app to provide you with a warning (even with out having the app open) to altering climate situations robotically. So if you wish to know when your departure airport modifications from VFR to marginal VFR, simply faucet a couple of settings and also you’ll be prepared. METARs Aviation Climate additionally has a reasonably good Apple Watch app. Get the app right here.
5. WINDY. Whereas thunderstorms and ice get all the eye, wind is definitely the most typical purpose to cancel a flight. That’s why we like this app: it exhibits present and forecast wind situations for 1000’s of areas and affords the power to go looking by airport identifier. Its elegant design and delightful animations set the app aside, permitting you to visualise cloud tops, bases, temperature, stress and way more. There’s additionally a wonderful Apple Watch model that could be a helpful approach to monitor altering situations. Get the app right here.
4. SkewTLogPro. For actual climate geeks, a METAR simply doesn’t lower it. To be taught the finer factors of atmospheric stability, wind shear, and potential cloud layers, there’s nothing higher than a Skew-T log (p) chart. It’s an advanced title, however this app makes it straightforward to retrieve soundings for a number of airports alongside your route. You may select the closest sounding, faucet on the map, or load a route, then obtain each present and forecast charts for offline viewing. SkewTLogPro is $12.99 for an annual subscription. Get the app right here.
RadarScope gives probably the most superior precipitation and climate evaluation of any radar app.
3. RadarScope. If MyRadar (under) is the light-weight, easy-to-use radar app, RadarScope is the diehard’s radar app. It focuses much less on fairly photos and extra on choices—you’ll be able to show any of the 155 completely different radar websites within the US, and select between base and composite reflectivity. This can be a difficult topic, however many pilots suppose composite reflectivity is most helpful for flight planning (however isn’t what most TV stations present). Being able to check completely different radar scans can supply some good insights with a little bit coaching. There are every kind of different radar merchandise, from velocity to differential reflectivity. The app, which prices $9.99, additionally lets you zoom in and search for tell-tale extreme climate radar signatures. Get the app right here.
2. MyRadar. There are actually a whole lot of radar apps within the App Retailer, and with good purpose—checking the radar is a vital job for pilots and non-pilots alike. Virtually all of those apps use the identical information (from the Nationwide Climate Service), so it’s largely how this information is introduced that distinguishes apps from one another. Certainly one of our favorites is MyRadar. It’s free, quick, and simple to make use of, with high-quality looping radar and easy controls. However as we’ve talked about earlier than, there are some good aviation options in there too, like an AIRMETs and TFR overlay. They even supply a CarPlay app to view radar imagery on driving maps in your automobile). Get the app right here.
1. ForeFlight/Garmin Pilot/FltPlan Go/WingX/Stratus Perception/FlyQ. Whichever of the massive aviation apps you utilize, they’re onerous to beat for climate briefings. As a result of you’ll be able to overlay your flight plan route on completely different climate maps, they provide nice situational consciousness and infinite prospects for diversion planning (you’ll be able to even think about gas costs). These apps additionally embrace a wealth of knowledge, from graphical METARs to icing forecasts, you could’t discover most different locations. Lastly, they mean you can get a proper climate briefing proper within the app. This isn’t to say the in-flight choices for datalink climate, whether or not it’s SiriusXM or ADS-B. Get the apps right here: ForeFlight, Garmin Pilot, FltPlan Go, WingX, Stratus Perception and FlyQ.
