The Ultimate List of Weather Apps for iPad (and iPhone)

I know, I know, all you want to know is whether you need an umbrella.

That’s what you say now. But once you take a spin through the various approaches to weather apps available for the iPad, well, you’ll still just want to know whether you need an umbrella. But you’ll have an enhanced appreciation for just how much some people care about the weather.

And if because of some early childhood event involving a thermometer or a puddle in the parking lot behind your apartment complex, you actually obsess about the weather, look no further. Our ultimate weather app round-up can help you pick the weather app that’s right for you. We cannot, however, prescribe medication.

Weather HD tells your logical brain what it wants to know—wind speed, temperature, precipitation, and humidity—and gives you local conditions or forecasts for any city. Meanwhile, it dazzles your visual cortex with beautiful animated clips for each weather condition in full HD. No maps, traffic cams, or other advanced features, but if you don’t actually want them, bump the rating accordingly. Positively hypnotic graphics take the edge off the adrenaline rush that naturally accompanies the topic of meteorology.

Weather Doodle is a basic weather app with animated art designed to make weather “pretty.” Powered by Weather Bug, Weather Doodle provides current temperature and humidity as well as a simple five-day forecast. This app is not aimed at meteorological junkies. It’s for people who want to check the weather on their iPad and maybe share that info on Facebook. The app currently comes with one “meticulously crafted” art theme, with additional themes available using in-app purchase. Read our full review of Weather Doodle for more information.

Toyota, the company that brought you the car that doesn’t know when to stop, is now sponsoring TWC’s iPad app, whose developers seem to have much the same problem, though there is little danger of going too fast. “Max” has clumsily animated maps, forecast and storm coverage videos with loading issues, tweets you probably don’t want from TWC personalities you don’t recognize, and for selected cities, live traffic cams. How can TWC afford to pack this much dysfunction into a free app? Ads, ads, ads! Toyota/TWC have created a cool concept that may be a great app once it’s out of beta. Trouble is, it’s marketed as already there. (Weather Channel Max for iPhone will set you back $3.99.)

This app is not currently available in the App Store.

Weather Clock with Alarm Tunes elegantly addresses a single situation. It provides lovely graphics and basic weather forecast information, perfect for wake-glance-and-go use by the road warrior or pleasure traveler. The name says it all: time and weather in your city with your choice of clock themes and iPod tunes as your alarm.

Most of WeatherBug Elite’s screen is occupied by a map emphasizing radar, temperature, humidity, etc. All the pertinent information about your location is displayed on a widget panel, including seven-day and hourly forecasts, present conditions, and Weather Service alerts. If you don’t feel like telling WeatherBug where you are, just tap “find me.” Since WeatherBug Elite is hooked into the global WeatherBug network – the largest of its kind – you also get access to up to 15 camera views from your local area. But the real beauty of this information-rich app is the interface, which allows access to just about all your information on one well-designed and attractive screen. (While the iPad app is free, WeatherBug Elite for iPhone costs $0.99) Check out our review of WeatherBug Elite for additional information.

Props to Accu Weather for allowing us a choice: no ads for a buck, or go with ad-laden version at no charge. Accu Weather’s philosophy is that what you really want is a forecast for one location; about two weeks’ worth of them fill Accu Weather’s main screen. Color me skeptical, given the five-to-seven-day forecast reliability rule. The slide menu is where this app gets cool. The especially awesome hourly forecast lets you drag an icon around a clock for a readout of conditions that hour, as the icon changes to the appropriate graphic. Other options include video, maps, and a unique “lifestyle” menu, which tells you risks like migraines and hair frizz, and advises you on whether the day is good for fishing or beachgoing. Locations are relegated to a settings menu. One issue: Accu Weather sends you to the Accu Weather website far too often for my tastes. (Accuweather.com also has an iPhone app.)

PWW starts you off with the basic information – the time of day and seven-day forecast – over an appealing but unremarkable background image. Tap any day to expand the amount of information displayed, and access radar maps and satellite images from within the initial screen. PWW uses GPS to know where you are, or you can specify a location. You can set Pocket Weather World HD to display multiple forecasts for multiple locations. No weather cams, traffic cams, tweets, videos, or National Weather Service alerts. What’s there runs fine, but do you really want to pay two bucks when you can get more for free? (Pocket Weather World for iPhone is a separate app, but the same price.)

These guys haven’t a clue what you want in a weather app, but they admit it, and that makes all the difference. Seasonality Go gives the true weather geek every possible display of basic weather information, including barometric pressure, temperature, wind speed, cloud cover, precipitation, humidity, and wave height. Graphs, forecasts, maps…astronomical data? And here’s the beauty part: they let you arrange it for yourself, adding the windows you consider most important. It’s for the true weather geek, and if you’re deep into weather, it may be worth the ten-dollar ante. It’s missing alerts and videos, but it’s built for data-loving home meteorologists – and by them.

Weather Underground’s got weather stations around the world, so you’ll likely find a cam near you, or near your destination if you’re traveling. Wundermap has animated radar and cloud cover maps that you can turn off if you lose patience, basic maps, current conditions, forecasts, and alerts. What Wundermap does not have is video, bells, whistles, beautiful graphics, a price tag – or unnecessary agita. Most of the information is inexpertly displayed on one pug-ugly screen. But it’s always there, by God, and it’s free.

For me, I’d say I’ll probably end up with two weather apps on my iPad: Weather HD for the cool factor and Seasonality Go for curiosity and control. What about you? Can you narrow it down to just one “favorite” weather app?