Schools in New Orleans were closed yesterday, and many are still closed today, because for a while it looked like Tropical Storm Gordon was headed this way. That storm instead headed towards the Mississippi/Alabama border, but it had me using my weather apps even more than normal. Dark Sky has long been one of the best iOS weather apps because of its incredibly accurate to-the-minute forecasts for the next hour — so much so that many other apps rely on Dark Sky for their own data. But the app was recently updated to version 6.0 with a new interface, plus it is even faster under the hood. Especially with these improvements, there is no doubt that Dark Sky is one of the very best weather apps for the iPhone and iPad.
Accurate, minute-by-minute predictions for the next hour
One of the best features of the Dark Sky app is that it tells you whether you need to grab your umbrella as you walk out the door. Dark Sky can figure out whether it is going to rain during the next hour at your precise location. When you start the app, if there is rain in the next hour, you will see a graph similar to this one:
If the app tells you it will start raining in 8 minutes, you might as well start opening up your umbrella in 7 minutes.
This information is also useful if it is currently raining and you are trying to decide whether to wait for a gap in the rain, or if you should just go now because it isn’t getting better any time soon.
Great forecasts, with an improved unified interface
Many apps do a nice job of giving you forecasts for the new few hours and the next few days. Dark Sky has always had accurate data, but thanks to the recent version 6 update, I really like the way that this data is displayed all in one place.
When you start the app, the app gives you a forecast for your specific current location, but you can quickly search for another location (and you can save up to six locations, allowing you to swipe left and right to switch between locations). Clear icons and numbers tell you the current conditions.
Next, you see a map with rain indicated. Dark Sky has always used an interesting style for showing radar information on a map; instead of the blocky tiny squares, the colors are smoothed out.
Next you see the hourly forecast, provided in a fantastic interface thanks to the recent update. A bar along the left side gives you a visual indication of rain (the color changes to blue). Next you see the hour, the forecast information, and the temperature in a circle which moves left or right to show relative increases and decreases in temperature. I love the way that Dark Sky now shows all of this information at once, making it incredibly easy to see when rain will start and stop over the next few hours and how the temperature will increase or decrease over the next 24 hours.
If you scroll down, you will see the forecast for the next week. Again, the graphics are clean and the information is easy to understand.
If you tap on any day, you get hourly forecasts for that specific day in the same format that the app normally gives you for the next 24 hours.
Maps with radar
If you tap the Map button at the bottom of the app (or if you tap on the radar map at the top of the main screen of the app), you are brought into a map view. You can zoom in or out to see precipitation, and you can tap a play button at the bottom to see an animation of the last three hours and the predicted next hour. Again, the nice smooth animations which are unique to Dark Sky make it easy to see what is going on.
Time Machine
I usually use a weather app when I want to look to the future. But if you need historical weather information for a particular location, Dark Sky can give you that too.
Apple Watch
If you use an Apple Watch, Dark Sky has a nice app which shows you much of the same information for your current location that you see in the iPhone app, except for the maps.
Conclusion
Dark Sky has long been the leader in accurate forecasts on the iPhone and other devices, and thanks to the recent interface update, it is now one of the best apps for presenting this information in a clean interface which quickly tells you what you need to know. If you ever use an iPhone to pay attention to the weather, this is an app that you should own.
Click here to get Dark Sky ($3.99): 
I don’t know how Dark Sky does it. When I get a notification that rain is starting in 5 minutes, it starts in five minutes, give or take about 15 seconds. Then when Dark Sky tells me the rain is stopping, it stops – almost instantly. Pure magic.
Checking here first: https://www.forecastadvisor.com/ tells you the most accurate weather data source for your zip code based on historical data for the last year or last month. Here last year, Dark Sky was only 74.86% accurate while Weather Channel was 81.79%; a significant difference. In the last month it was 80.82% vs 83.87% respectively. So I’m stuck using the Weather Channel app (which does do local rain notifications).
I haven’t found Dark Sky the most accurate, by a good few %, in most zip codes tried. Typically Weather Channel (who owns Weather Underground so they are very close) is in the top slot or 2.
Thanks for the link, Jonathan. It explains why I find Dark Sky’s data not on par with the cool new interface – it is significantly less accurate than Weather Underground in my zip code. The link also confirms why I prefer Weather Underground. 😀
I’m usually a fan of redesigned interfaces so I’m not a curmudgeon but Dark Sky’s new design is terrible because it’s now virtually impossible to assess precipitation throughout the day. Also, the data seems less reliable (I got caught by surprise yesterday, which hasn’t happened in a long time).
Sadly, The Weather Channel also ruined a good thing with its recent redesign. The new app vertically lists several horizontal lists. While you can now get to all the features on the same screen, most of the time you want to see what’s happening today so now you have to scroll horizontally to view the data. This may make sense for the iPad with its larger display (especially for us landscape users), but iPhone apps should avoid horizontal lists.
While I really like the new design of Dark Sky on my iPhone, I will say that it doesn’t look good on the iPad. Too much empty space — it’s like the iPhone app is just stretched out.
-Jefff