Just in time for severe weather season, the new and improved WRAL Weather app is here! The WRAL Severe Weather Team has tested the new app and is thrilled with the results.
Update or install the latest version of the WRAL Weather app on iOS or Android.
Other WRAL Top Stories
From fast alerts, to customizable locations, targeted push alerts for severe weather to detailed forecasts written by our meteorologists, the WRAL Weather app will keep you safe in times of severe weather and will help you make your plans based on a forecast from the most accurate team of meteorologists in The Triangle.
When rain, storms or winter weather move in, you have access to our LIVE DualDoppler5000 radar, the only dualpol radar in Wake County.
With a simple swipe of your finger, you have access to the new and improved interactive radar. The interactive radar will default to our powerful DualDoppler5000 if the user is in range of the radar.
“One of our goals as a team was to make sure our new app would default to our very own dualpol radar. You can still zoom out and interact with the radar to see where it is raining across the country, but if a user is in range of our radar, the default will be our DualDoppler5000,” says meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner.
The new menu bar allows users to quickly get to the interactive radar, forecasts and live video streams, including WRAL News+.
Our skilled meteorologists have been testing the new app for a while now and say a huge benefit to downloading this free app is the fast alerts. Meteorologist Kat Campbell says, “I was shocked at how fast I was getting severe thunderstorm warnings for my location. I would get the alert from our new app before I even got the warnings from the National Weather Service."
Another benefit is the level of customization. Users can add locations by street address, city or zip code and assign custom names to their saved locations.
Have a college student residing in a different city? Or maybe you have elderly parents that you want to keep safe? You can set up custom locations to receive weather alerts from any location in the country. Users can customize what types of alerts you would like to receive for each saved location or their current location.
“I’m really excited about this feature," says Weather Executive Producer Aimee Wilmoth. "As a mom with a son headed to college next year, I will definitely add his location so that I can get alerts for his area. It just makes me feel better knowing that I can text or call him if I get an alert for his area.”
The WRAL Severe Weather Team will now be able to send helpful, potentially life-saving, messages to a specific location or region as conditions warrant. These geo-fenced alerts will allow our meteorologists to choose an outlined location if they have an important message to pass along. For example, let’s say we have a tornado warning issued that includes the state fairgrounds during the State Fair. We can draw an outline around the state fairgrounds and send a custom alert to everyone attending the fair to seek shelter immediately. This will be useful for big sport events, concerts and festivals.
Our custom WRAL Weather app also gives you quick access to the 7-day forecast and hour-by-hour forecast. Our meteorologists write detailed forecasts for every day and night so that you have a clear understanding as to what’s headed our way.
Some other new features include the following: Users will now have access to WRAL’s extensive Live Cam Network to see real-time conditions throughout the area. We have a Report It link on the home screen for sending photos, videos and weather reports. You can also message us with your feedback about the new app.
Miss an alert? The app displays each user’s alerts from the past seven days. Users have access to air quality, drought conditions, earthquake reports and wildfires. Hurricane tracking tools are available, as well as closings and delays in our area. We offer new 7-day and hour-by-hour graph options to more easily see weather trends.
The new WRAL Weather App is free. Users who have the current app should be updated to the new app if they have auto updates enabled. If not, they will need to go to the Apple or Google Play app store to update or to download if they don’t have our weather app already installed.