Being raised on a farm - the success of which was based upon the perfect mix of sunshine and rain - has made me sort of a weather nut. I check the forecast every day, watch the precipitation radar at lunch, and check the air pressure every couple hours.
Beyond farm life, knowing the forecast is important living in Winnipeg, Canada. Our winters can be as cold as -40 degrees celsius and our summers can be a humid +30 degrees at times. When I’m leaving the house, I need to be sure of the weather so that I can dress appropriately.
I’ve long resorted to checking the weather forecast every morning on The Weather Network’s website, but when I was told by a reader about CARROT Weather, I had to give it a shot.
The Funniest App Around
If you haven’t used one of the CARROT family of apps (of which there are a few), they’re designed around the concept of a computer AI which bosses you around and makes some hilarious jokes. If you’ve played the video game Portal, you’ll know what I mean.
You only need to read CARROT Weather's description to get a feel of the experience:
CARROT Weather is an eerily accurate weather app that delivers hilariously twisted forecasts. There are secret locations to unlock. A time machine. And also evil penguins.
CARROT Weather brings the same sarcastic comedy to the Mac and pairs it with a fantastic interface and a sophisticated weather reporting system. It’s an odd combination, I know, but it works wonderfully.
Two Ways To View The Weather
CARROT Weather provides two views for accessing the weather forecast. The main window features the most detail, and is customizable to display what you find most important:
The second is a Fantastical-esque ‘quick view’ which is accessible with a keyboard shortcut or by clicking the menu bar icon:
To make it even more accessible, CARROT Weather also displays the current weather and temperature in the menu bar for quick reference.
Every element of the app is beautifully designed and downright hilarious. Every time you view the forecast, you’re presented with a new text update which is both comical and informative. I could list all the funny things CARROT Weather had said, but I wouldn't want to ruin the fun for you.
The main window of the CARROT Weather also features two fantastic weather tools: time travel forecasts so you can see the weather history and a slick radar view which allows you to see upcoming cloud cover and precipitation. Both are incredibly useful and well implemented.
A Complete Weather App To Inform And Delight
CARROT Weather is my favourite app for viewing the weather forecast for two reasons:
1.) It provides a complete and fully-detailed weather forecast with all the information a weather nut (or normal person) could ever want.
2.) It’s a delight to use and consistently makes me laugh.
There’s really no other weather app which can compete with the combination of functionality and comedy of CARROT Weather. You can download it from the Mac App Store for $13.99 and there's also a iPhone, iPad and Mac version for $5.49.
