Today I’m continuing the series of articles on weather. Instead of focusing on websites, today I’ll be zooming in on one weather app that I use on a regular basis. By now it should go without saying that this app is accessible for VoiceOver users. Now with that out of the way, let’s check out the first app.

My Hurricane Tracker Pro ($1.99)

As the title of the app suggests, this is a hurricane and tornado tracker. jRustonApps, the developer, has gone to great lengths to make this app as accessible as possible to users of VoiceOver. He and I emailed back and forth so that he could perfect the see-surface temperature chart. Now a VoiceOver user is able to swipe through an ocean and hear the differing water temps. I wasn’t sure this was possible due to the graphical nature of the chart. I should also point out that all of his apps are accessible for VoiceOver users. His apps are also available for Android users, but I cannot comment on their accessibility on that platform at this time.

My Hurricane Tracker Pro App Description

• My Hurricane Tracker Pro gives you the most comprehensive tools for tracking tornados, cyclones, tropical storms and weather warnings available. In a beautiful interface, you won’t be overwhelmed with cluttered screens like you might with other apps. We give you exactly what you need in an easy to understand way.
• Interactive tracking maps for each hurricane.
• NOAA forecast map & storm satellite imagery where available!
• Historic search of previous storms from 1851 (or 1949 for Pacific).
• Receive weather warnings from the National Weather Service.
• Push notifications for weather warnings or new storm formations!
• Radar, satellite and sea temperature images automatically updated in the app!
• See an outlook for the next 5 days from the NOAA.
• Track specific hurricanes and receive notifications every time they are updated just by pressing the “+” button!

What I Like

The hurricane alerts can’t be praised enough. It is great to get an alert whenever a storm forms. When you open the app, you’re placed in the Now tab, which provides a list of all active storms. When you open the information for a storm, you can get all its details, such as wind speed, movement direction, etc. You also have the option of tracking the hurricane. If you track it, you will then receive alerts whenever the National Hurricane Center (NHC) updates info about the storm. The alert will tell you how far the storm is from you, and the direction, such as 575 miles to the south east. This is one of the most valuable features of the app.

Past Storms

The Past tab allows you to get storm information going back to 1949 in the Pacific, and 1951 elsewhere. You only need to select the ocean and the year that you are interested in.

Forecasts

The Forecasts tab gives you the following options:

• Outlook: These are official hurricane development forecasts from the NHC.
• Forecast models: images depicting where a storm is predicted to go (not accessible to VoiceOver).
• Radar: Various radar loops (not accessible to VoiceOver).
• Satellite: cloud images for the Atlantic, Pacific, and Caribbean (not accessible to VoiceOver).
• Sea Temperatures: Latest see surface temperatures for the oceans.
• Severe Warnings: These are weather warnings throughout the USA.

Settings

Within the Settings tab you can set the following options:

• distance unit: Miles per hour or Kilometers per hour
• Show: select what ocean you would like to be shown when you open the app
• Wind Speed Unit: Miles per hour, Kilometers per hour, or Knots per hour
• Notification Type: Choose which ocean you want to get notified about
• Low bandwidth mode: Reduces internet data used by lowering the quality of images for radar and satellite.
• Update images on Cellular: Allows you to turn off updating images for radar and satellite when you are using a cellular connection in yet another attempt to save your data.

That’s all for this app

If you are interested in tracking hurricanes or tornados, get Hurricane Tracker Pro. The developer is open to feedback. The app is accessible to VoiceOver, and is very easy to use.

Actually, you should also consider his other apps, as they are all accessible. These include: My Pollen Tracker, My Lightning Tracker, My Moon Phase, My Aurora Forecast, My Earthquake alerts, My Tide Times, and finally, I kid you not… My Toilet Finder! When ya gotta go… you gotta go! Fizz wiz oh! What a relief it is!

Qapla!