Why Are My Current Conditions Wrong?

By Grace Muller, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

February 6,2013; 8:49AM,EST

People ask AccuWeather why the current conditions on their app sometimes don't match the weather that they are seeing out their window. There are three main reasons for this.
The current conditions aren't "wrong" exactly. Your cell phone isn't a weather station so it has to pull data from an observation site. The first reason your current weather may not match your app is that you might be very far from the closest observed weather station.
Most of the observations that weather apps use come from airports across the U.S. If you're 10 miles from the closest airport, there may be a shower at the airport but it could be dry in your location.
The second reason why observations may not be correct is because the data is old. Weather observations are usually taken once an hour. If it's raining at 8 a.m. but not at 8:30 a.m., your current observation will be incorrect. AccuWeather tries to correct for that by using formulas that take the data and adjust it to the weather outside of your window.

Surface Weather Observation Stations

A third reason for incorrect current conditions is more rare. Sometimes there is a problem with the data from the National Weather Service's weather stations. A data error might be the case if you see far-out temperatures like -200º on a sunny, October afternoon.
If you want more detailed information about the weather that is happening, pull up the radar on your app so that you can know exactly where the rain or snow is in your area.