🌡️Most Accurate Florida Weather App? This Science Project Puts Temps to the Test

Oviedo, Florida – Will it rain? what should i wear Is it worth curling your hair today?

These are the questions people like Mikayla Beilanson and Tori Sambell ask every day.

“We usually use our phones to check the weather. We don’t usually go to the news stations, so we check the app,” says Sambell.

Sambell and Beilanson, eighth graders at Lawton Childs Middle School in Orange County, recently completed a science project comparing local and national weather apps such as FOX 35, WESH, WFTV, The Weather Channel, and WKMG News 6’s Pinpoint Weather App. Has completed. .

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“My family uses a variety of weather forecasts and is constantly debating which one is better, so I wanted to see which one was the closest to the actual temperature,” says Sambell.

“We went out and checked the temperature with the thermometer we had, then looked at each app and website to see what the temperature was for the day,” says Beilanson.

For a month in a row, they recorded the highest daytime temperature for their home in Oviedo.

“We predicted that FOX 35 would have the most accurate weather app,” Sambell said.

(Yes, we were surprised by that prediction, too.)

After all, the results of their experiments revealed different results.

“This graph we made from the data shows how far[each weather app]is from the actual temperature on average. It was the FOX 35 and the weather channel, so it’s the lowest,” Beilanson said.

(They said it, not us!)

According to their science project, the result is that WFTV and WESH are off by an average of 1.7 degrees from their maximum recorded temperatures, FOX 35 and The Weather Channel are off by about 2 degrees, and the News 6 Pinpoint Weather app is off by an average of 1.4 degrees. I understand. All apps weren’t so off.

News 6 Chief Meteorologist Tom Sorrells reacted to the findings.

“I’m happy that we won even though it wasn’t perfectly timed,” Sorrells said. “But you have to wonder how they did it. I’m not questioning their desire, I don’t know enough about the project. To do so, the Weather Service places what is known as a “honeycomb” or box five feet above the ground. Measured from a thermometer in a controlled environment. “

The students who conducted the experiments did not measure weather conditions using the same tools used by the National Weather Service, nor did they have the same specifications or exacting parameters as meteorologists. I’m Junior high student.

But Sorrells applauds their willingness to learn about the weather and encourages more students to think outside the box when it comes to STEM education.

“Kids today stream everything and use their phones instead of getting the news and weather the traditional way on TV. The fact that it did lifts my spirits, and encourages me to keep experimenting and learning more about meteorology,” Sorrells said.

The News 6 Pinpoint Weather app, available for free on the Android and Apple app stores, is like having a radar in your pocket. Available on the go, locally or anywhere in the world.

“The current measurements provided by the Weather app are from Automated Surface/Weather Observing Systems (ASOS). Each airport and reporting station has temperature, humidity, wind, pressure and sky conditions reported to the National Weather Service. We have an automated reporting station that records and it’s sent in. The forecasts from us come from the computers here at WKMG and you go into the system and manually update the forecasts using data from the computer models and AOS 7 day weather forecast on tv is the 7 day weather forecast you get in the app in central florida on the road, away from our viewing area, rather than tweaking by us , has been automated from ASOS,” says Sorrells.

We can all agree that no matter which weather app you use, it’s a convenient way to keep track of the weather forecast.

Sambell and Beiranson have no affiliation with the press involved in their scientific projects.

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