Hurricane season brings fear to the hearts of those living in its direct path, as well as distant loved ones who worry for their safety. If you’ve ever stayed up all night in panic for a family member who was caught home alone in the middle of a devastating storm and relied only on intermittent live TV reports for updates, a hurricane tracker app is a must-have tool . There are many hurricane trackers that can help you prepare for these dangerous events, monitor their progress along the way, and aid in recovery. We’ve rounded up the best apps to follow storms, predict storm paths and provide on-the-spot advice for emergency shelters and emergency services. Most are free to download and ad-supported. Premium versions remove ads and add additional features.
A power outage can occur during a storm, so consider purchasing a portable power source just in case. We’ve got a few handy suggestions for some of the best portable generators and power stations available.
If you ever need to evacuate your home to escape a hurricane or other natural disaster, we’ve put together a list of items to pack in your car emergency kit.
Weather — The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel app is designed to track extreme conditions like storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires so you’re prepared for whatever Mother Nature has in store for your community. The app offers live Doppler radar maps and hurricane trackers that predict heavy rain, heat waves and flooding. With personal weather warnings and critical notifications for your region, you can plan up to two weeks in advance. A smart companion widget provides more details at a glance and access with just one tap. A premium version of the app offers more comprehensive and accurate ad-free weather reports, a 15-minute rain intensity forecast for up to seven hours, updated radar readings pushed to your home screen, and an extended 72-hour radar.
App Store Google Play
AccuWeather: Weather Alerts
AccuWeather has everything you need including live weather forecasts, local weather, daily forecasts, advanced radar and Real Feel technology to give you the best idea of what conditions actually feel like. Advanced weather radar provides instant, up-to-date views of storm tracking, snow, rain, ice and temperature variations. For those wanting even more information, the app offers RealVue and Enhanced RealVue satellite imagery showing weather patterns from space. Specialized tropical storm radar shows where and when storms might make land, and includes live MinuteCast weather clocks and alerts for your area. Conversely, you can view 45 days ahead with a tracker with information that you can filter and customize based on your preferences.
App Store Google Play
My Hurricane Tracker Pro
My Hurricane Tracker Pro provides comprehensive tools and weather alerts from the National Weather Service for tracking tornadoes, hurricanes and tropical storms. The app offers interactive tracking maps for each hurricane, along with a NOAA forecast map, storm satellite imagery, and radar, satellite, and sea temperature images. Weather alert push notifications allow you to track specific hurricanes and receive instant notifications. A Pro version of the app is ad-free and the Apple version includes Apple Watch support.
App Store Google Play
MyRadar weather radar
MyRadar is a complex but easy-to-use weather app that displays animated radar (with a two-hour radar loop length) at your current location to alert you to local weather conditions. The app offers advanced rain alerts via its own forecasting technology, which sends notifications in advance detailing rain intensity and duration. The app offers a choice of data layers, including a dedicated hurricane layer that gives you the latest information on tropical storms and hurricane activity worldwide. MyRadar broadcasts weather and environmental alerts from the National Weather Service, including alerts originating from tropical storms and hurricanes, and you can configure the app to send alerts when a tropical storm or hurricane is forming or changing in intensity. A $3 paid version of the app augments real-time hurricane tracking to provide additional data. Premium upgrades also include a professional radar pack for more detail from individual radar stations.
App Store Google Play
Storm radar: weather tracker
Storm Radar: Weather Tracker uses high-resolution NOAA radar to track extreme conditions like cyclones, hurricanes, and tornadoes, allowing you to monitor the most challenging weather conditions in real-time. The app uses Weather Channel’s advanced HD mapping technology to keep you safe on your commute, home and neighborhood activities. The app gives you a detailed, color-coded view of current weather patterns, including wind and rain in your area. It shows when and where a storm will strike and six hours of global radar. The app lets you customize your radar map with overlays to include additional data and real-time alerts for hazards like lightning. The app is free with ads, but an ad-free version costs $1 per month. The Android version of the app has been retired and replaced with the generic Weather Channel app we added above.
app store
hurricane tracker
Hurricane Tracker uses data from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) to relay audio briefings and maps. Hurricane Tracker also records all NHC alerts and maps in real-time to keep you up to date with the latest weather conditions. You can customize the app to receive notifications when new storms form and existing systems make landfall. The app uses predictive models, custom graphs, and in-depth analytics to help you prepare for unexpected events. Hurricane Tracker covers the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Atlantic, Eastern Pacific and Hawaii. It does not track Australia and the Western Pacific. The app isn’t free — the iOS version is $3 and the Android version is $4 — but its scope and uniquely tailored information may justify its modest price.
App Store Google Play
Hurricane: American Red Cross
The American Red Cross has developed its own hurricane app that allows you to monitor conditions in your immediate area as well as locations that are currently in a storm system. The app, which is available in English or Spanish, includes both an interactive storm tracking map and forecast models to help you plan for the worst ahead. Hurricane relays real-time alerts and updates, but its headliner is the in-app communication feature. Anyone directly inside a hurricane or storm system can post custom messages or select status updates so you can communicate with loved ones directly in the app or via Facebook or Twitter. The Red Cross has also created a series of step-by-step guides to help people prepare for and weather a storm. These include a tool directing people to the nearest Red Cross emergency shelter, as well as tips on how to conserve drinking water if the area is affected by flooding or power outages.
App Store Google Play
Editor’s Recommendations
Comments are closed.