iPhone Free Weather Apps

The Incumbent: Weather
A pretty and simple Weather app came installed on my iPhone when I bought it, which I used happily to check the temperature and see if I need rain gear before leaving my apartment for the day. That is, I did so until winter. In winter I need to know more than whether or not I expect snow. I need to know how much.

I decided to download the most popular, free weather apps. The contenders: AccuWeather, The Weather Channel, WeatherBug, WeatherEye, Weather+ Free, and Weather HD. All of them display the current temperature and conditions when you first open the app. All of them have a 6-14 day forecast with temperature and expected conditions. So, the bottom line question is...

How much snow will we get?
Weather: Does not predict the amount of precipitation.

AccuWeather: Predicts inches of precipitation on the front page which does not match that in the forecast. The number on the front page seems to be for the inches of precipitation this hour, but I'm honestly unsure.

WeatherBug: Reports inches of rain so far today on the front page, and predicts inches of rain, snow, or ice in the written forecast.

WeatherEye: Predicts inches of rain and inches of snow on the short term forecast. It remembers which tab was open when you closed the app, so your favorite becomes the front page.

Weather+: Shows inches of precipitation on the front page. Personally, I don't know how inches of precipitation relates to inches of snow. Is it relative to what type of precipitation is falling?

Weather HD: Does not predict the amount of precipitation.

The Weather Channel: Predicts inches of snow in the 36 hour forecast.

There's a winter weather advisory for freezing rain over night into tomorrow morning. What information does each app give me?
Weather: Does not mention the advisory or predict accumulation.

AccuWeather: Shows a red exclamation point on the front page which loads the advisory in a web page. The forecast tab predicts 0.4in of precipitation.

WeatherBug: Shows an active alert on the front page which displays the advisory in-app. The forecast predicts up to an inch of snow tonight, with up to one-tenth of an inch of ice by morning.

WeatherEye: Shows a red alert ticker which loads the weather conditions (same as the app front page) in a web page and has another link to the weather advisory. Forecast predicts 0.04in of rain tonight with 0.2in rain and 0.4-1.2in snow by morning.

Weather+: Does not mention the advisory. Forecast predicts 0.12in of precipitation for tomorrow.

This bugged me, because the hourly forecast shows it raining pretty much all day. Sure enough, when I click the hours showing precipitation, one says 0.0in of precipitation (heavy freezing drizzle), another 0.28in of precipitation (moderate rain), next 0.12in of precipitation (moderate rain), and last 0.0in of precipitation (light rain shower).

Weather HD: Does not mention the advisory or predict accumulation.

The Weather Channel: The Severe tab lists active advisories which open in-app. Forecast predicts wintery mix tonight, freezing rain in the morning, and rain all day tomorrow, but does not predict accumulations.


Conclusion
I downloaded these apps at the beginning of winter and have been using The Weather Channel for the past few months, but after my in depth comparison, I think I'll switch to AccuWeather. WeatherBug probably presents the best information in the most simple way, but I have a personal vendetta against WeatherBug for "infecting" PCs with AdWare for my entire professional career. I would have picked WeatherEye if the severe weather advisory had loaded in-app with a single click, because I like the presentation and love that it remembers what tab I'm on when I quit. It's like it knows me.