Visualization and Visual Analytics

Week 1: No Rain

It's that season, where checking the weather only makes you feel worse. When I'm feeling particularly masochist on a Chicago winter day, I will check the weather on both my phone and laptop.

When I'm on my laptop, I like to check weather.com for current weather. I prefer weather.com because I enjoy how in-depth the information is and how I can see weather for up to a month in advance. I can look at radar and if there are any advisories in affect I can see them. The animated maps and images added are extremely interesting as they show the movement of things such as snow storms throughout America (see image above). There is additional information such as an almanac so if I'm traveling to an area in a month, I can check what the weather will mostly like be.

When I'm on my phone, I like to use the built-in weather app. This is my preferred method as it is the quickest, and has exactly what I want to see. Unlike an online website, the application is not bloated with articles. I like to check the weather at multiple locations, such as Helsinki (as my father lives there) or Florida (because I like to make myself upset) and using the application allows me to swipe through all these areas and quickly compare them. I also enjoy the little graphic each location has associated with it, like animated rain/snow if its raining or snowing. The only downside to this app is that there is no radar and I cannot see the weather on days that are further than a week away.