Hi,
Just a quick update to say WG 4.1.0 has been released.
Unfortunately there appears to be a bug with the smart forecast on the watch, for which I can only apologise. The alternative is to use the Voiceover Smart Conditions in one of the other watch complication slots.
With regards to the update, the main points of interest ...
1. We have hyperlocal weather for the main app, watch, widgets and notifications
2. You can now assign a weather station to any location - you might need to increase the search radius if not many stations show up. Once assigned you can tap the weather station details button to dig into all of the weather station data, including data points such as solar radiation, cloud ceiling, light amount etc I have laid out the view as a set of weather station instruments and there are links if you want to find out more about these instruments.
3. The edit weather station view lists all the nearby weather stations and is quite handy if you want to swipe through all the stations and get a short weather summary.
4. Storm threats now includes approaching and nearby lightning counts.
5. The alerts list on the watch app can now be tapped to get the full alert details on the watch, saving a trip back to the app.
6. Wind descriptions can be switched off; a number of users asked for this feature as it cuts down on the amount of text read by Voiceover.
I have also tried to solve some of the problems associated with notifications when you have a new device and restore from backup. Occasionally the process of restoration breaks our notifications in such a way that they just don't come back. There is now a reset notifications button which runs a bunch of actions to try and restore the broken notifications. It doesn't remove any notifications you have assigned to locations, that part is still intact. During my testing, the reset button seems to work well. Please give it a try if you are not receiving notifications or let other people know if they also have this problem.
Finally many thanks to all the beta testers (this was a big update) and all our translators who also had a lot to translate!
Have a good weekend!
Scott
Comments
australia
Hi Scott,
Does this mean that weather alerts and warnings will now be available for Australia?
australia
Hi Michael, sorry, not at the current time.
temperature inconsistancy
I am also seeing a temperature inconsistency in the app.
In my current location, under now, it's telling me that it is 17 degrees C. However, when I get down to where it says latest observation, it says that it is 21 degrees. Am I just understanding weather incorrectly?
temperature inconsistency
Hi Michael
The latest observation will be coming from the weather station assigned to your location. This might be some distance from where you are which could lead to a difference. Also, the forecasted temperature might be for the next hour - I added the time to the now summary. One thing to do is to go into edit weather stations and swipe down through the list. Make a note of the temperature for the closest stations and if it's quite a difference then I can send a report into AerisWeather for investigation.
weather temp
Hi Scott,
Yes the discrepancies are pretty significant. I've got my weather station set to environment Canada.
weather temp
Thanks for the update Michael
Can you send me a feedback email please from within WG settings and let me know the location and which weather station you have assigned.
I can then raise a report with AerisWeather.
temp discrepancy
I'm in the United States, Texas specificly, and I've noticed this discrepancy as well. It confused me at first, but then I realized that the temperature the god gave me was often either the immediate temperature or maybe from just a minute or 2 before whereas where it gives all of the current conditions that might be from 10 or 15 minutes before for example.
As far as the lightening…
As far as the lightening count is this like lightening alerts or something a bit different?
Thanks
Lightning
hi Troy
The lightning count is included in the storm threats feature (part of extended forecast). It shows for any storm that is approaching or passing over, how many lightning strikes in the last 15 minutes.
I am hopefully adding more comprehensive lightning and lightning alerts in the next update. This would give you more information about the strikes, such as how close, the bearing and when it occurred.
That would help
Hi scot. I'd much appreciate that as I live in Florida and even though my cane is not metal, the idea of not knowing when lightning is gonna happen or how close, kinda freaks me out. Add to that, my Boston news apps tell me the lightning strikes because I use location services. Kinda weird, kinda cool. so yes I might have a ton of weather alerts going off but I would rather that happen. do I need to enable anything to look at the lightning counts? i haven't explored this app much in awhile.
Lightning Counts
Hi Siobhan
You will find the storm threats button on the main screen, top right. Voiceover will read the number of lightning strikes, number of storm threats and any local storm reports.
Double tap the button and there are two buttons. First is for the storm threats page, second is the local storm reports page. I don't know how many people use the local storm reports, but I find them fascinating, everything from hail reports, trees down, local roads flooded etc
Swipe down and you will hear a status indicating if there is lightning. Continue swiping and you get to a section where it tells you the number of strikes approaching and those nearby.
Lightning notifications and more detailed lighting will be in the next release.
storm reports
I look at the storm reports before the core of the storm gets to my area to find out how bad it may get.
storm reports
they are very handy for gauging speed, distance and bearing.
storm threats
Scott,
Are threats still shown once they've already passed by me? I've often wondered when I see that there's heavy precipitation to the northeast of me for example but it doesn't say which way it's heading if it's still headed in my direction. This doesn't happen often but unless I miss something when I'm swiping using voiceover it does happen occasionally.
Still a great app, and the first one I look at when any bad weather is in the area.
storm direction
hi Troy,
Voiceover should read e.g. either "approaching from the east" or "passing through, heading west"
hoping to add a refresh button in the next update so you'll be able to get a more real time feel for the storm progress. However, the data is expensive so I will have to consider the implementation.
WG
This app is getting better and better. Much better than Apple. Great job.
WG
Thanks Holger!
storm update button
Scott,
Speaking for myself, I live along the Texas coast here in the United States and we usually get upward of 50 or 60 inches of rain each year, and especially when the rain comes in off the water with hurricanes and such it would be nice to have a way to update how close the rain is getting, so even if I had to pay extra for that I'd be willing.
another question about storm threats
Part of the storm threats screen shows the intensity of the rain but it shows 3 different intensities I guess from lightest to heaviest. What's the best way to read that so I understand what's going on?
precipitation intensities
Hi Troy,
I would use the intensities as a guide as to best case and worst case scenarios. The values are taken from a rainfall radar which determines the size of the droplets.
At the top of the screen is the hail status (between rotation status and lightning status) and I recently added a description for the size of the hail and the probability of the hail being severe, so that's an important one to check.
I'm also looking to add storm threat notifications - so you would get a description similar to in the app, along with distance, bearing etc
I'm trying to include it in the standard extended forecast subscription, but I have to be real careful on the data costs. I'm still running the numbers.