The Weather Channel - Radar

The future radar lets you slide a timeline bar to see where rain or snow will be in the next few hours. It's great for planning outdoor events, as it showed a pop-up thunderstorm's path clearly in Portland, allowing the user to move a garden party indoors just in time.

Yes, you can set severe weather alerts to 'only critical' so your phone doesn't buzz every hour. These alerts come through as push notifications, helping you stay informed without unnecessary interruptions.

The app collects location data in the background by default, but you can disable this by turning off background app refresh in your phone's settings. This prevents the app from tracking your location when not in use, addressing privacy concerns.

The widget sometimes displays outdated weather until you manually refresh it. Simply tap the widget or open the app to force a refresh, which should update it to show current conditions.

The app's weather data matches up pretty well with the National Weather Service website, making it a reliable alternative for quick checks. However, the app includes extra features like future radar and video forecasts, while the NWS site is ad-free and less cluttered.