Hot air balloon pilot. I am not paying for weather; I am paying for a convenient packaging of specific weather factors not commonly reported by mainstream sources.
For example, a map of the wind forecast at 100’ AGL. Any commercial source can give me wind forecast at the surface. Aviation specific apps can give me forecasts at 3000, 6000, 9000 feet. But a forecast map of winds at the treetop level is rather difficult to come by.
The data is available from NWS, but it’s commonly provided as a vertical wind profile for a specific location, rather than a map of winds at a particular altitude. This app seems to compile vertical wind profile forecasts for many locations into a single map.
That particular map (and several other weather charts) is a premium feature of a commercial weather app for Android. I found it useful, so I subscribed.
Hot air balloon pilot. I am not paying for weather; I am paying for a convenient packaging of specific weather factors not commonly reported by mainstream sources.
For example, a map of the wind forecast at 100’ AGL. Any commercial source can give me wind forecast at the surface. Aviation specific apps can give me forecasts at 3000, 6000, 9000 feet. But a forecast map of winds at the treetop level is rather difficult to come by.
The data is available from NWS, but it’s commonly provided as a vertical wind profile for a specific location, rather than a map of winds at a particular altitude. This app seems to compile vertical wind profile forecasts for many locations into a single map.
That particular map (and several other weather charts) is a premium feature of a commercial weather app for Android. I found it useful, so I subscribed.