Well, actually, there’s nothing new about the weather; it’s just how you might want to get it.
Recently released from Environment Canada is Weather-Can, a mobile version of the information on their website. It’s 7:20 on Sunday morning as I write this. It looks to be another cool day ahead.
The presentation contains pretty much the same things that any weather application would have. Temperature, forecast, for now and the immediate future. What I find intriguing is what’s not there and what else is in there.
What’s not there
Advertising. By itself, that’s enough reason to consider taking this application for a spin.
Something else that’s not there that might make you retain your old application are non-Canadian locations. Sometimes, it’s just nice to take a look at the weather in warmer locations to acknowledge that summer is on the way. There is a link embedded in the left menu that will let you head out onto the web to get that sort of information.
What else is there
As you’ll note from above, it’s got features like Air quality, Air pressure, Visibiliy, and the Dew point. My other applications don’t include it.
A bit of Canadian trivia. This, I like. While I’ve only had the application for a couple of days, this was so refreshing to see.
The science behind the weather – there are links there to explain some of the terms used in weather reporting, climate reporting, and more. Since they access information on the web, it does take a bit of time to load.
Finally, Weather-CAN offers two widgets that you can place on your home screen for weather at a glance.
Features (from Environment Canada)
Key features:
• Current conditions, 24-hour forecast and 7-day forecasts for over 10,000 locations in Canada
• Never worry about missing alerts! Push notifications for all weather alerts issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada
• Weather information for your location (following you as you travel) as well as for saved locations anywhere in Canada.
• High resolution radar animation on a zoomable map background
• Today and short-range forecast widget for quick, at-a-glance weather information
• Accessible in English and French, and an in-app ability to switch between languages
• Message centre – interesting messages from friendly, human meteorologists
You can download the application here:
doug -- off the record 
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