Weather

A few weeks back, I posted about the simple animated stylings of the YoWindow weather application (Free). Without confusing graphs or charts—you can relax and watch the animated weather unfold on your iPhone while it's doing nothing more interesting than refilling power on it's dock. Now YoWindow is universally available for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, and later this summer, a Windows 8 version cometh as well.

The tornadoes sweeping across the Texas plains and hitting Oklahoma mid-May reminded us that when a natural disaster rips through a community, the situation can turn deadly. But if you have an inkling of where and when severe weather is going to hit, you have a chance to take safety measures to protect yourself and your loved ones.

The App Store is flooded with all kinds of weather apps, but ones that only tell you the temperature are of no use in an emergency. To stay safe, you need apps that can give you early warnings about extreme conditions in your specific location. We have rounded up five of the best apps, which taken together can help smartphone users get a head start in case of severe weather.

As a formerly certified weather geek, I like to check out new weather apps. I'm usually drawn to ones with more advanced features, but occasionally I find a simple and elegant weather program I have to mention. YoWindow ($0.99) is one such app. It is not a fancy weather app, which can become cluttered with maps and trend graphs. Instead, it gives you a view of upcoming weather in a serene 2D scene you can animate (e.g. forecast conditions) as you swipe. The app also serves to relax you with realistic outside sights and sounds that match the conditions, and even indicate the season.

I'm always eager to report the arrival of a new free app from one of the major tech companies, and today it's Yahoo! Weather for iPhone. So far there's no version specific for the iPad. An early review on iMore says it presents a "great deal of information with a crisp, clean user interface." It offers detailed weather information and forecasts, as well as interactive radar, satellite, heat, and wind maps.