Weather Apps

There are a lot of weather apps out there and over the past seven years of full timing I have used a lot of them. With the increase in violent storms and tornadoes, you must be prepared.

I currently run three weather apps on my iPhone.

Weather Mate
Storm Shield
Red Cross Emergency

We are now in St. Augustine which is in St. Johns County and is 900 square miles. If there was a severe weather like a tornado it could be 30 miles away from me and I would still get it. And I do, times 3.

For the past few months I’ve been “testing” a new weather service Hazard Call RV . Hazard Call is an always on internet cloud service that monitors my location by an external GPS unit and notifications are based on my precise location (not general county warnings) when I am in the path of a tornado, severe thunderstorm, or flash flooding.

It also provides lightning alerts when lightning is picked up within six miles from the rig giving me time to get inside the RV. There is also a Security Service that when enabled will send me an email and text when GPS unit detects movement. The email/text includes a link to the map to see where the RV is which allows me to notify the police and follow the unit.

Here are some screenshots here in St. Augustine.

  • Dashboard
  • Current Conditions
  • Local Radar
  • National Radar
  • Detailed Forecast
  • Weather Hazards Map
  • National Weather Map
  • Wind Speed Map
  • Precipitation Map

Hazard Call is not a free app. It is a paid web-based service.  The GPS unit is $145, and the monthly fee is $10. Well worth the cost. 

As I said, I’ve been testing the system for the past few months, and there has been a few glitches mainly with the first GPS having a hardware defect, but the customer service has been great, and they even paid the shipping costs to have it returned after sending a replacement.

They say that “timing is everything” and that is very true for today since it was a Severe Weather Day here in St. Augustine.

It began with text and emails very early in the day from Hazard Call saying “Tornadoes are possible in your area today. Remain alert and stay aware of weather conditions.” At 11:44 am, I received another text and email from Hazard Call letting me know we were now under a Tornado Watch. It was another 20 minutes before the other weather apps sent out notices.  At 3:50 Hazard Call notified me that we were now under a severe thunderstorm warning (south of Jacksonville was experiencing a tornado warning – red square). 

During all of these weather alerts, Hazard Call was always the first. Red Cross Emergency was the worst with alarms every 15 minutes or repeating the same alarm, or for areas that were nowhere near me. Needless to say, that app is no longer on my phone.

Compared to most of the south, we here in St. Augustine was very lucky. And it’s now official, Hazard Call gets two thumbs up.

Until next time, 

Safe travels