The Space City Weather app now has AccuWeather data and a prettier splash screen

If you’ve been paying attention to what happens on your iPhone, iPad, Mac or Android devices, you know that a new version of our app recently dropped and is in the wild. As is our wont, when the summer comes – and yeah, there’s no denying it IS summer – it’s time for a major update for the Space City Weather app.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve added features that users have asked for most: dark mode, a better tablet/desktop layout, current conditions for more area neighborhoods and cities. This year, we’ve chosen to focus on behind-the-scenes aspects, as we’re pretty happy with app as a whole.

One of the issues we’ve addressed is the reliability of the data for forecasts and conditions. In past versions, these have come directly from the National Weather Service, which has an Application Programming Interface (API) available for free. But the flow isn’t 100 percent reliable, which is why you may have seen blanks where numbers should be, or in some cases old data.

In the spirit of “you get what you pay for,” we have opened our checkbook and signed a deal with AccuWeather to provide us with current conditions data. We are still relying on the NWS for weather alerts and the detailed forecast discussions that appear when you tap the bell icon at the bottom of any SCW app screen. The NWS also still powers our area radar display.

We’ve also changed the way the app behaves when data for one of the 12 areas we cover is unavailable. The app will pick up the feed for the next nearest reporting station, so you’ll have local data on which to rely.

In addition, we’ve updated the opening screens of the app you see when it launches to better match the nifty new banner on the SCW blog. These so-called splash screens include branding for our sponsor, Reliant. If you’ve got both iOS and Android devices, you may notice these screens look different. That’s due to limitations on newer versions of Android. Regardless, both Space City Weather and its sponsor get to shine when the app fires up.

There are other tweaks and bug fixes. If you have not downloaded the latest app, go grab the newest versions from from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

If you encounter issues, it’s a good idea to uninstall, then reinstall, the latest version. If you’re still in distress, email us at [email protected] and give us as much detail as you can as to what you’re seeing, as well as the version of your device’s operating system, the version of the device and the version of the app (found at the bottom of the Settings screen). A future release of the app will include a bug-report button in settings that will automagically give us these details. Watch for it!

And as always, there are no trackers or ads in the SCW app. It’s pure, sweet weather information, with Eric and Matt’s insightful and easy-to-understand explanations. We’re here for you, wherever you are.

And a big thanks to our developer, Hussain Abbasi, whose hard work and good humor has made the process a breeze.