Reliable weather app for astronomy

[Saturn488]

I have been using Good To Stagaze in iOS and I find that most of the time the cloud cover is wrong.

It currently says there’s 69% cloud cover and that it’s been cloudy all day but I just went outside and there’s no cloud inside and i can clearly see everything!

What’s the most reliable weather app out there?

[Pepper (Steve)]

I use cloudfreenight.
Has the meteogram, satellite loop and sky cams.
Between those 3 things you can get a good idea on impending weather.

[Startrek (Martin)]

I’ve been using Cloud Free Night for 2 years and it’s fairly reliable
Remember weather is a moving target and the weather stations only update conditions every 4 hours so sometimes on rare occasions these APs get it wrong

[multiweb (Marc)]

+1 CFN is still the most comprehensive.

[Saturn488]

Exactly what I was after.

Thank you.

[Tulloch (Andrew)]

As well as CFN, I also have an app on my phone called "Clear Outside". Hourly predictions up to a week out, sure, it might not be the most accurate hour by hour but it will tell you if there's a clear spot coming up (6 hour window) which will give you a good indication of clear weather coming up.

[Icearcher (Chris)]

I use CFN, Clearoutside and SkippySky, between the three, I can usually get a pretty good idea of the nights outlooks.

On top of that I will have a really solid look at satview.bom.gov.au as it has great detail and short intervals from the Himawari sat, often that will decide if I go out or not.

On top of that, not much beats good old eyeballs 1.0

[Atmos (Colin)]

I use a combination of CloudFreeNight and yr.no

[RobF (Rob)]

Remember the app is only as good as the weather model its based on.
99% of these apps are based on the global American NOAA models.

CFN offers that global model AND the Aussie hi res BOM (ACCESS) models, so definitely worth a look. If different models agree, then you're even better off

[jahnpahwa (JP)]

I have cloud free night and clearoutside, the FLO app. I find clearoutside to be more optimistic and therefore a much better match for me.

Cloud free night has dogged me twice now, telling me there would be clouds all night and it was clear. Clearoutside often tells me it will be clear when its not, but i much, MUCH prefer to set up and be let down than not set up and miss some clear sky. If it was a matter of protecting heaps of expensive equipment, or deciding whether or not to drive an hour or two to a dark spot, I'd go the cautious route... but I can grab all of my stuff in 30seconds and be in the shed, so for home sessions, i push it.

[wastro (Robert)]

*** LATEST NEWS *** CFN website updated!!! All ACCESS model forecast maps and meteograms are currently unavailable. The latest GFS model forecasts for the next seven days are still available. Unable to download any ACCESS (city, regional or global) model data from the Bureau of Meteorology. Unknown when upgraded ACCESS model data will be made available. There are alternative forecasts (Yr, meteoblue, Clear Outside) for meteogram locations available from links on the Meteogram page"
- CFN Team (28 September 2020)