Hurricane for iPhone and iPad Tracks Storms in Real-Time

This week is the official start to the hurricane season in North America, and along with the beginning of the season comes fresh worries from people in Atlantic and the Pacific states that massive summer storms will come sweeping out of the ocean and wash away their homes. To combat that worry, a fresh run of storm-tracking iPhone apps have landed in the iTunes App Store, and Hurricane is one of them.

Hurricane and Hurricane HD both provide interactive storm tracking maps and live radar that can show you the position of storms in the Atlantic based on real-time data from the National Hurricane Center.

The HD version of Hurricane is made for the iPad, and makes use of the iPad's larger display for bigger maps and more information. Even if there are no active storms, you can use Hurricane to look back to storms tracked in the Atlantic as old as 1851, and in the Pacific back to 1949.

The Hurricane mobile app will set you back $3.99 in the iTunes App Store. If you have an iPhone and an iPad and want the app on both systems, you'll have to shell out twice to get it. Still, the app is useful enough if you're a storm fan, or just live somewhere prone to hurricanes.

With a few taps, you can open Hurricane or Hurricane HD, see the size and scale of the storm approaching, and read more about the wind speed, direction, when it's supposed to make landfall, and your distance from the storm.

The app also includes an interactivre five-day forecast based on your location, along with active satellite maps, radar, and even computer models for where the storm will go and what areas will feel the most impact from the storm.

Additionally, Hurricane isn't just limited to North America. If you live in the Pacific, or if you're just interested in Hurricanes (or Typhoons, depending on where you live,) you can look up data from the National Hurricane Center on historic storms and previous events. You can also search for active storms across the globe, and read more about those storms. Hurricane and Hurricane HD won't keep your homes safe, but they will keep you educated and in the loop about weather events heading your way or making headlines.

[via TUAW]

About Our Expert

Alan Henry

Managing Editor, Security

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I've been writing and editing stories for almost two decades that help people use technology and productivity techniques to work better, live better, and protect their privacy and personal data. As managing editor of PCMag's security team, it's my responsibility to ensure that our product advice is evidence-based, lab-tested, and serves our readers.

I've been a technology journalist for close to 20 years, and I got my start freelancing here at PCMag before beginning a career that would lead me to become editor-in-chief of Lifehacker, a senior editor at The New York Times, and director of special projects at WIRED. I'm back at PCMag to lead our security team and renew my commitment to service journalism. I'm the author of Seen, Heard, and Paid: The New Work Rules for the Marginalized, a career and productivity book to help people of marginalized groups succeed in the workplace.

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