(Don’t worry, we’re working on the widget too!)
The idea is, if enough app users correct a condition within a certain area, it’ll correct it for all those in that small region.
“Other” will expand a larger list of condition options and the “X” at the top right will dismiss the bar.
We’ll also have the option to turn it off in the settings but hopefully, everyone keeps it on and helps make the app better for everyone!
Thank you!
- Adam
Frequently Asked Question: Why does your radar go from clear to fuzzy? Is this suppose to happen?
Answer: The radar on our free app Instant Weather is a mix of “Past” and “Future” Radar.
The “Past” radar is clear at 1km resolution and “Future” radar is a bit fuzzy or soft as it’s a lower, 3km resolution.
Some popular apps just take the “Past” radar and move it in the direction it was heading to create a cheap and cleaner looking “Future” radar. We could have done this and saved a lot of money but we decided to use a premium future model that runs on a supercomputer and updates every 15mins, worldwide.
Why? If storms are expected to develop or dissipate, a model approach has a much better chance of predicting the future. Simply moving “Past” radar looks cleaner but often doesn’t provide you with an accurate picture of what could actually happen.
We do have some ideas for creating a hybrid between the two methods in the future as moving “Past” radar, even just a few frames can be useful for pop-up storms that show up out of the blue.
We hope this makes sense! 🙂
- Adam
P.S. Because of how expensive the premium radar data we purchase is, we were only able to include 4 intervals on the free version (1 “Past” and 3 “Future”). We do, however, offer the option to ‘Upgrade Radar’ in the app menu (top left button) and this will provide you with 5 hours and remove ads from the app. Thank you to all those who have subscribed! You’re the reason we can offer the app for free to everyone!!
1. Version 495 of our FREE app Instant Weather includes clickable links to our Instant Updates™!
Anytime we post a custom severe weather forecast to our website, we can now instantly notify those in the affected area that the forecast is available! Then, with one click inside of our app, you'll be directed right to the full forecast on our website with a map, detailed write-up, etc.
We plan to eventually add our custom forecasts directly inside of the app, including an interactive map, etc. All in due time! :)
2. We've also added Humidex & Windchill as the default option for "Feels like" temperature. This works in the "Current Condition" and also in the "Minutes" & "Hours" products. You can switch back to the original "Hybrid" option in the settings if you prefer the way the app previously handled "Feels like".
3. We've added Humidity & Pressure to the "Minutes" and "Hourly" products as well and have increased the size of the UV a bit.
4. On our servers, we've made significant improvements to notification speeds, especially when it's a widespread alert. We'll have more improvements to notification speed in the coming weeks but this should already be a big improvement!
5. We've added and refined our Instant Updates™ for localized severe weather and other important notifications
6. Other bug and stability fixes (more coming!)
Thank you so much to all of those who have subscribed to our "Upgrade Radar" & "Remove Ads" options! You're the reason we're able to make the app free for everyone else so a HUGE thank you to everyone who has subscribed!
Sincerely,
- Adam, Teresa, & the IW team!
Version 495 is now available. We also made some improvements on the server side.
One cool change is clickable links in the alert bar details.
We've also switched to kPa instead of hPa for pressure as that's most commonly used in Canada. If you like hPa, simply move the decimal point in your minds-eye. Eg. 101.35 kPa is 1013.5 hPa. :) We plan to add hPa as an option eventually. Thank you for your patience!
Humidex & Windchill added for "Feels like". You can choose between the hybrid feels like that includes wind and cloud or the more traditional Humidex/Windchill.
Humidity & Pressure for "Minutes" & "Hourly" products.
Big improvements to notification speed, especially for a large alert. More improvements coming soon!
Added & refined our Instant Updates™ for localized severe weather notifications .
Other bug and stability fixes (more coming!)
Great news! We’ve launched a fix on our servers (no update required) to combine alerts that are located in one alert-area into one single notification instead of several.
Eg. Barrie, Oro, Collingwood
Please keep an eye on it and let us know how it works!
You can choose under settings the method used for the feels like calculation
Humidity and pressure added to minutes and hourly products
Hybrid feels like
Humidex feels like
Note wind, humidity, and new pressure units
We're preparing to release a new app version by the end of next week!
This release will come with humidity and pressure added to the minute and hourly pages! Woohoo!
We're also working on including by default, Canadian humidex to calculate the "Feels like" temperature in the summer and windchill in the winter. For those who like our 'Feels like' the way it is, you'll be able to change it back to the hybrid version we currently use in the app. This will work for the current condition, minute, and hourly pages.
Several in this community have mentioned they'd like to see more maximum/minimums in the "Day" product dropdown and perhaps "Feels like" in there two. I love the idea but this will likely take us some time so keep on us about it. :D
For those who may not know, you can click on any of the blue bars on the daily product and it will expand with more details such as sunrise/sunset and a text summary of the forecast for day & night.
Stuck alerts have been temporarily addressed but we plan to work on a more comprehensive fix that should mitigate any issues with one part of our system affecting another part as we currently have a couple unnecessary dependencies.
If you've made it this far, you win life. <3
Adam
Sometimes the app and/or device gets in a bad state. Here are some things to try.
Reboot your phone or tablet.
Make sure that you have the latest version of the app (check the Play Store by clicking here).
Delete and reinstall the app following this procedure to clear the cache and data first. Note that if this works properly you will lose all the locations you added.
Go to Settings >
Open Apps >
Select Instant Weather >
Press Force Stop >
Press Storage >
Press Clear Cache >
Press Clear Data
Delete the app and resinstall it. Some people have found that they have better results if they turn the phone off and on again before they reinstall the app. Note that you will have to restore purchases if you have a subscription to remove ads/upgrade radar. To restore purchases click on the menu (three bars), then click on Upgrade Radar and press the green button labelled Restore Purchases.
Turn Wifi off and on.
Clear the partition cache especially after system updates can help. For an example of how to do this see the instructions on tis page https://www.howtogeek.com/414466/should-you-clear-the-system-cache-on-your-android-phone/
Reset network settings on device. Note that after you do this you will need to reenter any wifi passwords. On and Android 8 device you find this under setting > Network & Internet and then click on the three vertical dots to find Network settings reset.
Still seeing ads and have the basic radar? If you have subscribed to remove ads and upgrade the radar you may need to click on Restore Purchases and reboot the app. To restore purchases click on the menu (three bars), then click on Upgrade Radar and press the green button Restore Purchases.
Having issues with the radar? Try switching the map provider to Apple Maps under settings in the app. We have found that Apple Maps works better for some devices.
Let us know if something else worked for you and we will add it to this list.
Adam posted on Facebook a video that demonstrates some features of the app. You can check it out here.
Early this morning, we’ll be deploying and testing a HUGE upgrade to our system that we’ve been designing and coding since the app-meltdown on June 10th, when we doubled our user base in only a few hours. This happened because of a severe weather and possible tornado outbreak in southern Ontario. I say “possible” because if only one more tornado is confirmed, we’ll have reached the minimum number of tornadoes to be classified as a “Tornado Outbreak”; 6.
We’ve already upgraded our servers quickly to bandaid the issue and this allowed us to work great during several large events in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. This was put to the test in southern Ontario today with widespread alerts and big stress on our servers but thankfully, our bandaid fixes held on!
Long story longer, I’m super excited for the upgrades today!! If all goes well (and we should probably do a big notification test to make sure), we will now automatically deploy an infinite number of servers to handle any level of traffic the app receives for all major processes.
Sunday looks possibly severe in southern Ontario and that’s what we’ve been preparing for. What’s a good time for a notification test? 🥰
Adam
You have may have noticed notifications coming in even faster than before and that's just the first step! We're working extensively this week on major server upgrades for all aspects of our free app Instant Weather.
Wednesday's significant weather in Ontario was an eyeopener at how quickly we can grow as we doubled our app user base in only a few hours. 😳 Wow. However, the first impression of our app for so many of those new users was a spinning loading wheel... sigh...
Saturday was the first big test since Wednesday when Alberta (our second largest community in Canada) had a severe weather outbreak and the app performed incredibly fast the entire time even with a boatload of app downloads! This was due to some initial server upgrades but we're not done there! We have big plans to add load-balancing and auto-scaling servers for all aspects of our system so that no matter how many new users join the app during any given event, it'll remain stable and fast for everyone.
If a spinning wheel was your first impression of our app, we sincerely hope you give it another chance as it's working great now and we're working very hard to ensure it can rock'n'roll during the next big weather event. Thank you.
- Adam #TimeToScale
P.S. To download our FREE app, please visit http://InstantWeatherApp.com and choose Apple or Android.
Ever wonder about the criteria that Environment Canada uses to issues their alerts. Here is the link for severe thunderstorms watches and warnings https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/types-weather-forecasts-use/public/criteria-alerts.html#severeThunderstorm. If you scroll up and down the page you can see all the other alerts as well (for example Wreckhouse Winds 💨😮). Some of the alerts are location specific and also the criteria can be different for different locations and different times of the year as well. Our app will send out push notifications (if enabled) and the Environment Canada alerts will appear in our app. Not all thunderstorms for example meet the criteria for a watch or a warning.
Canada's independent and community-driven weather organization. Providing context to severe weather since 2013.
