You have your travel planning apps, fuel apps and fitness apps. They are all key apps to have for RV travel. But don’t forget one of the most important apps: weather.
Currently I have seven weather apps on my phone. I know, seven may seem excessive but I used to have nine. You could say I’m a bit of a weather geek. It’s okay, I don’t mind.
My geeking days go way back to elementary school when the legendary Dr. George Fischbeck came to my school to talk about weather. His enthusiasm was infectious. Picture several hundred school kids cheering as he explained an upper level low. Then there was Johnny Mountain, part comedian and part weatherman, giving his forecasts with a bit of levity. His phrase of “cutoff low, weatherman’s woe” is permanently etched in my brain.
The weather in Southern California isn’t real exciting with gloriously wonderful days followed by cool and maybe foggy nights. We moved to Arizona in the fall of 1997 and that winter was one of the wettest El Nino years for California. So wet that the mountains didn’t suck all the moisture out of the storms and we got to experience a very wet Arizona winter. That summer was a pretty good one by our monsoon standards with storms forming every few days. I love to see the bright white thunderheads form against the brilliant blue sky.
The monsoon storms have changed in the twenty years we’ve been here. They used to roll in during the late afternoon and early evening. Being concerned about potential lightning and not knowing how to read the clouds, we would swim with the weather channel on the outside speakers. It was time to get out of the pool when we heard that familiar alert sound echoing through the backyard. The Phoenix valley has exploded in growth and population which has created a heat island of sorts. Now it’s a rare occasion when we get a five o’clock storm. They roll through much later now, usually as we’re trying to go to sleep. I miss sitting on the patio watching them close in.
Bad weather is no joke when you’re traveling in an RV or towing a trailer. In addition to endless road construction during our 2004 cross-country trip, we also had to contend with many summer storms. It seemed every time I got behind the wheel of our Winnebago there was either road construction or a severe storm watch or both. It became a running joke. The rain was so bad as we drove across southern Indiana, I pulled off the interstate to wait it out while Mark finished his nap. I’m still not sure how he managed to sleep through the mayhem. The radio was barking out counties while our oldest, Jeff found them on the atlas for me. It was raining so hard the wipers couldn’t keep up. Luckily the worst of the storm wasn’t near us.
Fast forward to present day with our fancy smart phones. We now have up to the minute weather no matter where we are. Even the local news stations have their own weather apps. I used to have local weather apps for the places we traveled most but deleted them because they duplicated the apps I had. Since all station apps are free, I can add them back if I choose.
If you’re traveling in Oklahoma, I highly recommend the Mesonet app. I first learned about it while touring the National Weather Center (NWC) at the University of Oklahoma. My son Jeff is now a PhD student in meteorology there and we toured the campus and NWC before he chose to attend for his masters program. Mesonet is a joint venture between OU and Oklahoma State University that covers all 77 Oklahoma counties.
Per the Mesonet website: The Oklahoma Mesonet consists of 120 automated stations covering Oklahoma. There is at least one Mesonet station in each of Oklahoma’s 77 counties.
At each site, the environment is measured by a set of instruments located on or near a 10-meter-tall tower. The measurements are packaged into “observations” every 5 minutes, then the observations are transmitted to a central facility every 5 minutes, 24 hours per day year-round.
For me, the Mesonet app is invaluable when we are in Norman visiting Jeff. Last May we visited him for the week. Mark ended up having to go to Philadelphia so it was just me and our dog Marlee staying at the little campground on the Cleveland County Fairgrounds. It’s a nice little place, no frills but close to campus with free WiFi. Anyhow, May in Oklahoma is an exciting time, weather wise. Watching the forecast on our drive I was nervous as severe storms were forecast every single day. I could move the RV away from an approaching storm but it may not be pretty. Thankfully, there was only one evening of stress as the predicted daily storms didn’t materialize. That one night was pretty wild, though. Jeff made me dinner and with the storm watch in effect I brought Marlee with me to his apartment. She doesn’t like lightning and thunder at all and I didn’t want her to be alone in the RV if a storm hit while I was gone. We had a nice dinner, he is such a good cook. Jeff kept reassuring me that the worst Norman would experience from any storm would be wind and rain but nothing more; especially not large hail. He knew the last thing I wanted to watch was softball sized hail breaking the windows in the RV and Jeep. He was right on the wind and rain. We were positioned in a north-south orientation and the storms were developing well south of Norman. I was glad not to be catching the wind broadside. I got back to the RV with enough time for Marlee to have a good walk before the wind really picked up. I pulled three slides in, leaving the fourth one out so Marlee’s bed would fit on the carpet instead of the tile. We settled in watching the late news while the wind howled and the rain poured. I love the sound of rain on the RV roof, always have, especially when it’s early in the morning while I’m cozy in bed. This was not that kind of rain. I had the volume up to 44 on the television! It was a quiet night after the rain stopped but I kept the slides in just in case I needed to make a quick getaway.
The next morning I expected to find puddles everywhere when I took Marlee on her morning walk. That Oklahoma dirt must be really absorbent, as there wasn’t water standing anywhere giving any indication of the torrent the night before. I had weathered a midwest storm in our new to us Phaeton all by myself. So proud.
The Storm Radar App is the one I use the most when there is weather approaching. After our time in Norman, we headed down to Grapevine, Texas to attend our nephew’s graduation from SMU and again the forecast was for daily severe weather. Great. Again, nothing but some wind and rain thankfully. Storm Radar will show you the current radar wherever you are. The feature I like most is storm track. A little blue arrow shows with expanded timelines will show you which direction the storm is heading and what time it will hit other areas. This is useful here in the Phoenix Valley so we know when to get out of the pool. I used it in conjunction with the Mesonet app while riding out my storm in Norman in May.
RadarScope is the fanciest of my weather apps and the only one I paid for. Jeff uses this app when he is “data collecting” severe storms and tornadoes. You can track radar, lightning and storm tracks data which will give you a more complete picture of the weather around you. The app does take a little practice to be completely comfortable with and I find myself learning it all over again it every spring. If only Arizona weather was more exciting year-round instead of 300+ days of sun.
The Weather Channel app is my go-to to check temperatures. I like that their hourly forecast goes out 48 hours which can help determine campsite departure times in iffy weather. The daily forecast goes out 15 days but my son, the real-life meteorologist, says anything past 7 days is a guess. I’m thinking that 15 days may be a stab in the dark. Even if it ends up way off, at least a 15 day forecast can help with packing, especially if it helps you pack for bad weather.
Another family member is an on-air meteorologist and he’s been posting some funny screenshots of a weather app as they endure a never-ending winter. I found that app this morning and added it to my repertoire. It’s called WTForecast. Warning, it is a bit snarky and may contain bad language and inappropriate phrases but if you want to read on your screen what many people in your are thinking about the current weather, this app may make you chuckle. I can’t wait to see what it says in August when we are on our 29th day of 110+ temperatures.
Whatever weather app you choose, always be safe.