“That’s our hook, that’s what the app is all about. The first time the app says it will rain in five minutes, and then it does, it 'kind of feels like magic,' Grossman says. In fact, when DarkSky first launched, all it offered were minute-by-minute precipitation forecasts out to one hour in advance. Grossman said the company's trademark is its precision rainfall forecasts, which other, more popular weather apps aren't doing, or aren't doing well. The company then compares historical weather data to the computer model projections and gives each model solution a weighted average based on how accurate their computers calculate each model is for a particular point. Global Forecast System, or GFS model, and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model, or ECMWF. and the Met Office in the UK,” he said.įor the longer-range forecasts that DarkSky offers, the company pulls in data from about 10 weather models, including the U.S. “We take in the raw radar data from the NWS in the U.S. For precise estimates of rain or snow start and stop times, the company projects the movement of radar echoes from federal government weather radars. There’s something different about having it on a big screen,” he said.ĭarkSky relies on two different streams of information to produce the weather forecasts its users rely on.

“We tried to make, spend a lot of effort making beautiful maps. 'We have a lot of users,” he said, but “it doesn’t get a huge lot of exposure that say a website would.” “The biggest reason we launched this website is DarkSky is an app and a 'for pay' app,' Grossman said.

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