[bengale]

I’m always surprised how much people seem to want to constantly know the weather.

[maccard]

I'm in Scotland. Looking outside and seeing blue skies does not mean it's safe to leave without a rain jacket, or a thermal layer. Seeing fog in the morning doesn't mean you don't need shorts for the afternoon. It being 0 outside today doesn't mean it won't be 10 degrees tomorrow. Knowing it's going to rain between 10 and 2 is good motivation to take the dog out before 10. Knowing it's going to rain on Sunday but be clear on Saturday is a good reason to book outdoor activites (golf) on Saturday instead.

[gbalduzzi]

Yes, but it's the kind of information you need once a day on average and you are good to go.

Instead you find it placed on your smartphone homescreen, on the smartwatch, on the home dashboard, on a notification you receive every morning, on your car screen, on your computer, ... I don't need to see it constantly.

Personally I believe it is something that it is easy to integrate and that users don't perceive as useless, but 99% of the time doesn't add any value

[hmokiguess]

This may due to geographical differences, not sure where you live versus OP but I have lived in at least 7 different cities throughout my life and in some of those I had to deal with really unpredictable weather whereas in others it was easier to just wing it and not regret leaving with a jacket or umbrella for example.

[pegasus]

It could be that they live in an area with more variable or more unpredictable weather than you. Or that they are much more outdoorsy. Or something else altogether. I'm surprised by your surprise. People live wildly different lifes and have correspondingly wide-ranging needs and preferences.

[riston]

I think with more outdoor activities, it's important to know what is waiting you in a few hour. For cycling example wind and rain information is rather good to know.

[electronvolt]

Yeah, I bike regularly on and off (season/mood/goals dependent, honestly), and knowing what I should expect on my commute to work /and/ back is important... and not something I can predict without looking at the weather in the morning.

[Exoristos]

Strong correlation with those who go outside.

[SchemaLoad]

HN users baffled then

[spiralcoaster]

Seems like if you were going outside often, you wouldn't need an e-ink display to tell you the weather because you'd be outside... experiencing it

[taitems]

Australia is the skin cancer capital of the world, with 2 in 3 of us diagnosed by age 70. The most used complication on my Apple Watch is the UV index, beating out weather temp, battery etc.

[koyote]

Which is weird because it's pretty straightforward to work out if you need sunscreen or not:

  * Is it any month other than May-August?  
  
  * Is it after 10am or before 4pm?  
  

Probably need some sun screen.

If you have very light skin you might want to increase the timeframe by an hour.

And if you really want to optimise your sunscreen usage and not use it if you don't have to, the real-time UV index from ARPANSA is the way to go (https://www.arpansa.gov.au/our-services/monitoring/ultraviol...).

All other apps simply display the expected UV index given the time of the day and the day of the year.

[croes]

Not constantly but instantly. And because you don’t when they want it you have to show it always. Just like clocks always show the time.

[yellowapple]

Here in Reno, especially at this time of year, constant knowledge of the weather = constant knowledge of whether to expect road closures / traffic delays from snow, or whether I need to add extra time before going somewhere to defrost the windshield and remove snow, or whether I should grab a jacket.

[lbotos]

Do you own property? Does it flood? Do you live in a place where a rapidly forming storm may cause flooding?

I was weather-status neutral until I bought a house that has flooding challenges. Knowing that enough rain that could trigger flooding helps me avoid surprise cleanups and property damage.

[spiralcoaster]

So what do you do with the information that your house is about to flood? Do you have a special flood prevention technique that you can only put into action when you know the rain is coming?

[DANmode]

> Does it flood? Do you live in a place where a rapidly forming storm may cause flooding?

Emphatically no, as someone who cares about avoiding chronic health problems for myself and my family.

Even water-damaged concrete is enough to drive CIRS. Been there, done that.

[SeriousStorm]

Agreed. Especially the current weather conditions. That's mostly useless info. Knowing the weather forecast for tomorrow or this weekend is actually useful.

It's strange that pretty much every weather widget assumes you want to know the current weather conditions and not the forecast.

[crazygringo]

> Especially the current weather conditions. That's mostly useless info

Do you... not go outside? And not need to know if you need the heavy coat, light coat, light waterproof coat, and/or umbrella? Or pants vs shorts? And the answers are very different at 7am vs 11am vs 3pm?

I'm not trying to be sarcastic, I'm just genuinely baffled.

[9dev]

Eh, depends. If you have a dog, and live in a place with actual seasons, February requires frequently checking the current conditions before you head out—at least where we live, it could be anywhere from -10°C to +12°C right now, raining, snowing—annoying to put on a light jacket because you let the sun fool you, and discover it's freezing and starting to rain once you're on the field.

That said: I seem to get by pretty well with a lowly smartphone so far.

[eb0la]

If you have to walk the dog and know in advance it will stop or start raining in 20 minutes....

[prforated]

No forecast is accurate to 20 minutes. You get x% of rain over the next hour or so at best.

[thechao]

I had Windows^(TM) installed in my house when it was built. We're on the top of a 700' hill, so The Weather is pretty accurate.

[chrisweekly]

Ooh that reminds me of my weather rock.

[benhurmarcel]

I commute by bicycle so I choose my remote working times to avoid rain. So yes weather affects my day-to-day.

[guide42]

Same. You can always tell how is going to be the weather by yourself. Depending on how much time have you lived in the same place you can predict the weather for the day when you get up or, if you are a completely stranger to the environment, at least half an hour before.

[jameshart]

Outside my house right now it’s a cold, still evening with a high overcast. My expectation based on my years of experience living here and having seen these conditions before would be that it would likely clear out overnight, freeze hard, and be a beautiful day tomorrow.

In fact, though, a massive bomb cyclone is forming a few hundred miles away and it’s likely to dump over a foot of snow on us in the next 24 hours, accompanied by 50mph winds.

Weather forecasts are, not surprisingly, actually useful.

[michaelsalim]

While this is true in many places, i believe it is also quite untrue in many more. For example where I live, it was snowing last week. Quite cold but you can't tell csuse the snow already disappeared by the morning. And then suddenly it was sunny a few days after. Today, it was as sunny as the past few days, but the temperature was quite warm. Couldn't tell just by looking outside.