I love my tempest, but this is driving my pedantic brain just nuts. Perhaps I just need some re-education.
The tempest site (and the api) show the current condition (current icon) as “Rain Possible”. Fine, but:
- Walking outside, I would call it “Partly Cloudy” at worst, really better described as “Mostly Sunny” (there are just a couple of non-threatening clouds)
- Dark Sky and Accuweather indicate “Clear” and “Partly Sunny”, respectively
- The forecasted precipitation probability for the hour was 20% without any expected accumulation, which I generally interpret as “leave the umbrella and apply sunscreen”
- Radar is completely clear
My interpretation (and what I expect) of the current conditions/icon is that it represents what is happening now. The forecast of what is going to happen later is available in the forecast section. Even the description of “Rain Possible” sounds more like a forecast, unless it is to represent that it might actually be raining and the tempest is just not sensitive enough to detect rain.
Now, I am no meteorologist, but I am pretty darn sure it is not raining right now.
Perhaps that icon is used differently by others, but I would like it to reflect what is happing NOW.
I have been trying to rid myself of dependency on the Dark Sky api as it is likely to go away soon. But as it stands I still need the current icon to get my weather display on Home Assistant to look the way I would like.
Overall, I feel like the WeatherFlow forecast is really, really good. I compare forecasts for my location regularly and I am beginning to trust it more than my old favorite dark sky.
Anyway, sorry for the rant-y post, just needed to get that off my chest.