I’m not one to let a little forecasted rain keep me from e-biking. But I don’t like riding in the rain either. That makes my choice of weather app important.
I use AccuWeather (#2 weather app on Apple’s App Store; free). It provides a circle graphic that shows projected precipitation for the next 120 minutes. The length of the segment shows the duration and the color shows the intensity. And it gives a pretty dang accurate projection at a precise location.
Today the overall forecast was a 67% probability of rain. AccuWeather’s hourly forecast revealed a morning and afternoon window for riding that suited my schedule, so decided to ride. I took an unplanned detour to a coffeeshop to get some work done, and by the time I was ready to leave, rain was starting to come down. AccuwWeather’s “rain circle” showed light rain in the area for the next 7 minutes, so I took shelter for a bit and let it pass. The remainder of the drive was dry.
When I was ready to return home, I checked the rain circle: no rain at my starting point for 120 minutes, but rain beginning in 28 minutes at my destination, a 25-minute ride away. So I had a 3 minute margin of error. A minute from home, it started to sprinkle.
I find the AccuWeather to be, well, generally accurate, and very useful for trip planning like this. In six months of riding nearly every day I’ve only been caught in the rain once, and that’s because I didn’t check the forecast.
e-biking in Kansas City 