If you’ve got precipitation-sensing boobs like the dippy Mean Girl above (or, you know, eyes), Weather Underground wants you.
Weather Underground is an app from The Weather Channel to, well, tell you what it’s like outside. It uses crowdsourced data from designated volunteers, but today, the company announced that anyone will be able to report weather conditions in their area from the app.
Like how Waze gathers information from people on the road to determine whether traffic is really congested and why, Weather Underground will get a better understanding of what the weather is actually doing. Because you’re standing in the middle of it.
A human’s touch really is needed. Currently, Weather Underground is crowdsourced in that over 30,000 people have set up weather detectors on their property, volunteering that data to Weather Underground. But as vice president of product Allan Hui explains, this technology can’t pick up on certain intricacies such as “cloud cover and different types of precipitation.” Is it raining, or is it really just drizzling? Do those clouds look “ominous” or just overcast? It doesn’t know, but you do.
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You will only be able to report weather conditions for a 10-mile radius surrounding where you are. You can confirm and approve whether or not the weather conditions Weather Underground provides through its app are actually accurate as well.
Now, go put on your Captain Obvious hats and let others know it’s hailing outside!
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