Help with Hobbies
There’s so much more to the weather than what the weatherman says. Mike Plant explains how to keep an eye on the sky – without leaving your house
Meteorology
Turn your phone into a barometer
If you have a smartphone it’s probably fitted with a barometer. It helps to correct inaccuracies in your phone’s GPS tracking when you’re at any kind of altitude. Most people don’t make use of the barometer itself because they don’t know it’s there, but by installing the right app you can use your phone to monitor atmospheric pressure.
Android users should try Barometer Reborn ( www.snipca.com/24637) or mu Barometer (also known as μbarometer: www.snipca.com/24638), while IOS users should install Barometer & Altimeter ( www.snipca.com/24639).
Don’t be disappointed if the apps don’t show you too much information at first – they can take about three hours before they display pressure charts and other data (this will all happen in the bakground so you can continue using your phone as normal). To access charts and trends in mu Barometer, for example, tap the Settings icon (the cog at the bottom left), then tick ‘Show pressure graph’ and ‘Show Altimeter Indicator’ (see screenshot left).
Record rainfall in an app
Tracking how much rain falls on your garden or allotment can help if you grow fruit and vegetables. Free Android app, Rainlogger ( www.snipca.com/ 24640), lets you keep track of multiple rain gauges (like this one available for £6 from Amazon: www.snipca.com/24647) that you place across your garden. You need to check on each rain gauge at roughly the same time each day.
First install the app, choose a unit of measure, then tap the ‘+’ icon to start adding your rain gauges. Add a name (for example, ‘allotment’), then enter the size of your rain gauge (250mm, for example). As you place your rain gauge, tap ‘Get current GPS’ to add your gauge’s exact location. Tap Save, then tap the name of the gauge to open it.
When the calendar screen opens, tap the relevant date, use the slider to record the amount of rainfall and add any notes in the ‘More information’ section. To see graphs of your recorded rainfall, tap the Settings icon (the three horizontal lines at the top left), then Charts. IOS users can use the similar Rain Log app ( www. snipca.com/24644, $2.99 – around £2.30).
Where the wind blows
Windy’s website ( www.snipca.com/ 24607) and app (Android: www.snipca. com/24619, IOS: www.snipca.com/ 24620) lets you keep track of wind strength and direction across the world. You can also add overlays of cloud cover, temperature, rainfall and so on using the icons on the right. For even more control, click the three vertical dots (see screenshot above) to see a series of sliders that will let you tweak it.
Scientific cloud gazing
If you want to categorise passing clouds a little more scientifically than the usual ‘that one looks like a dog’, then the International Cloud Atlas – the official site of the World Meteorological Organization – is well worth a visit ( www.wmocloudatlas.org). It has pages of information on clouds, but if you’re only after the basics you’ll find photos of the recognised cloud types at www. snipca.com/24603, and you’ll find a flow chart designed to help you correctly identify any cloud that’s overhead at www.snipca.com/24602.
Where is it snowing now?
We might be in the midst of a British summer, but it’s still snowing somewhere. Snow-forecast.com’s maps ( www.snipca. com/24609) let you see where it will snow in the next week. Snowfall is indicated by colour gradients, starting with green (1-10cm) and progressing through orange, cyan, purple, yellow and red (150-250cm). Click any map to enlarge it. Some maps are covered by live camera feeds. To see if any are available, click the Webcams link at the bottom of each map, then click the icons that appear on the map to see footage.