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10 best hurricane tracking apps and other helpful apps for hurricanes
Hurricanes are about the only bad reason to live on a coastline. That’s probably why so many people live there and why they deal with hurricanes. Hurricanes are a fairly common phenomenon, especially in tropical or tropical-adjacent regions of the world. They go by a few different names like typhoons, but they’re all the same type of storm with heavy winds, heavy rains, and a characteristic eye in the center of the storm. If one is on your way, hopefully, one of these excellent hurricane apps can help. Please stay safe.
The best hurricane apps for Android
1Weather and similar apps
Price: Free / $1.99
1Weather, along with most weather apps, works well for basic hurricane information. Most of them have weather radars with a zoom function. You can see where the storm is and where it’s headed. Additionally, these apps usually send severe weather alerts, precipitation estimates, and stuff like that. They don’t function great as a dedicated hurricane tracker, but they will let you know if you actually need one well in advance. 1Weather is one of our favorite weather apps because of its non-subscription price tag and simple, effective UI. You can try it at the button above. Those looking for other weather apps can hit our link for it in the little widget thing under the first paragraph.
FEMA
Price: Free
The FEMA app is fairly decent for upcoming disasters. The app alerts you when new things are happening. You can also upload photos to help with FEMA’s disaster report. Additionally, the app can help organize an emergency kit, create rendezvous points in case of separation, and other emergency tips and tools. The video below shows you how to find disaster resources, contact shelters, and more. It’s usable basically all the time. You can get alerts of potential hurricane activity well in advance of the storm with enough time to prepare. However, one of the biggest complaints with this app is its issue with sending those alerts. Still, it’s helpful.
My Hurricane Tracker
Price: Free
My Hurricane Tracker is an above-average app for tracking hurricanes. It also works for tornadoes, tropical storms, and other types of bad weather. Some of the features include an NOAA forecast map and satellite imagery, interactive maps, a historic search for hurricanes of the past, and you can track any named hurricane through the app. The UI is a little basic, but it’s easy enough to use for just about anybody.
MyRadar
Price: Free / $9.99 per month / $24.99 per year
MyRadar is arguably the best weather radar app now that Dark Sky is gone. It has excellent storm tracking features, tons of weather layers, and you can track hurricanes from the app pretty easily. It omits many of the typical weather app stuff to focus a lot more on the radar. This one has two different subscriptions. The $9.99 per month one unlocks all the premium features of the app while the $24.99 per year is a separate subscription for aviation-specific features. We recommend checking out both to see what would want, but most of the features are available for free.
SeaStorm Hurricane Tracker
Price: $1.99
SeaStorm Hurricane Tracker is another excellent storm tracker app. It rests somewhere between Hurricane Impact and Hurricane Tracker from above. The app gives you a quick overview of any given storm along with advisory and expert analysis information. Some other features include sea surface temperature, tropical surface analysis, and more.
The app is also useful for surfers, beachgoers, and other situations. You can find things like wave height, seven-day forecasts, and surfer-friendly details like peak wave period. It costs $1.99 upfront with no free demo version. Thus, we recommend trying it within the refund time!
Tropical Hurricane Tracker
Price: Free / $0.99 per year / $4.99 once
Tropical Hurricane Tracker is another simple app for tracking hurricanes. This one is only really applicable to US users because it tracks the Atlantic, the Pacific near Hawaii, and the Pacific near the western United States. The app includes NOAA forecasts, push notifications, historical data, and more. There is also a global map, but we tested this in January when there were no disturbances so we’ll circle back on that feature later to see if it works well. The app has a $0.99 per year subscription to remove ads or a single $4.99 payment to remove them forever.
The Weather Channel apps
Price: Free / Varies
The Weather Channel is a great resource for weather info. The main app does the weather basics like forecast, temperature, radar, and other stuff. It also has weather news. Hurricanes are usually the headlines when they’re around so it’s easy to find news and analysis about each one. It’s a good spot for in-depth analysis and predictions about whatever hurricane is happening.
Windy
Price: Free / Optional donations
Windy is one of the more unique hurricane tracker apps. It’s a map with wind information. You can see where wind is going, where it’s swirling, and the resulting weather patterns. It’s not necessarily for hurricanes, but it’s definitely useful when tracking one. You can get forecast models from NEMS, ICON, and NAM all at once along with 35 total layers for the radar.
This is also one of the few that should work well in most parts of the world. It’s supported in about 40 other languages and, as we mentioned, it sources weather data from various places around the world. The app is entirely free. Those who really like it can donate with a one-time donation or a subscription-style donation package. However, that doesn’t unlock any features, it’s entirely optional.
Zello PTT Walkie Talkie
Price: Free / $0.99
Zello Walkie Talkie made a big splash during Hurricane Harvey. A lot of rescue crews used it to communicate with one another and with disaster victims with great success. Many major blogs and sites wrote about it, including us. That only helped balloon the app’s popularity. We’ll pile on that further. When it comes to communication, it helps when everyone’s on the same page.
The app supports push-to-talk and works great as a walkie-talkie. It also supports chatrooms with up to 2,500 participants. It’s free to use with an optional $0.99 in-app purchase. There are public and private channels as well. We imagine if this gets big during a hurricane again, it’ll be because of the public channel functionality. Hit the button to learn more on Zello’s official website (don’t worry, they didn’t sponsor this article). The app is easy enough to find on the Play Store. Just search for Zello.
Your local news app or radio stations
Price: Free
Keeping yourself informed is very important during emergencies. National news outlets aren’t going to have the level of detail and frequency of updates as your local news will (most of the time). Local radio, TV, and news apps should have up-to-date weather updates, evacuation details, shelter information, and more. We have a list of radio apps just below this box. That way you can listen on your phone. You have to search Google Play for your local news app.
If we missed any great apps for hurricanes, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists.
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