These Apps Will Help You Plan Your Adventures Around Extreme Weather

Weather apps for outdoor athletes experiencing climate change

Image: Rido, Adobe Stock

In 2023, people throughout the world experienced some of the hottest days on record, which according to NOAA, is just one of many climate or weather anomalies this year. Navigating extreme heat, floods, and wildfire smoke to stay on track with your training plans can be difficult. Thankfully, several weather apps are rising to the occasion to give people access to weather predictions during these wild and terrifying times. 

Here are some of the apps that can help you plan your adventures despite being surrounded by climate and weather disasters:

Open Summit

Open Summit is a wonderful app that translates weather data into information that is useful for outdoor adventurers. The app delivers hourly forecasts for precipitation, lightning, wind, temperature, and cloud cover atop (and on the way to) most of your favorite peaks in the U.S. One feature that makes Open Summit great for recreating during climate change is their real-time and predicted smoke maps, which can help you plan ahead when it comes to wildfire smoke and air quality. 

SMA Extreme Heat Policy

Sports Medicine Australia has released a new heat policy created by professors from the University of Sydney that helps protect summer athletes from heat stress. Their public website allows you to search your location and activity to determine the risk of heat stress. “Extreme heat is becoming a major concern, particularly for those involved in in [sic] summer sport. The new policy is intended to be used by all sporting stakeholders from community officials, sports trainers and volunteers through to elite level sport, relevant to both training and competition to provide safe guidelines for participation in extreme conditions,” said Chief Medical Officer for Tennis Australia Carolyn Broderick.

Air Quality Reader

The Air Quality Reader App shows data from both the EPA air quality index (AQI) and from Purple Air AQI, community-based air quality sensors. Keeping track of air quality for outdoor recreation is becoming increasingly important, especially if you are in a sensitive population. 

Weather Bug

The Weather Bug app has a lot of good weather features, like hourly and 10-day forecasts, storm trackers, and humidity index, but its stand-out feature is its lightning map. The lighting map delivers notifications when lightning gets close and makes it easy to track close strikes.

Clime

Clime uses NOAA data to present quality weather predictions. The feature that really sets this app apart is its real-time rain radar that allows you to follow precipitation as it moves towards you.

InReach

If you’re heading into the backcountry for a few days but want to check the weather throughout your trip, you can request weather predictions from a satellite device like the Garmin InReach.

No weather app is going to be 100% accurate, and extreme weather events are often unpredictable, but researching this data before you head out on your adventure, big or small, can make a difference when it comes to safety and comfort.