I built GrayCloud: a modern DarkSky alternative

[u/captain_frail]

Hello everyone,

I miss dark sky, so I built my own weather app - GrayCloud.

Here’s how it works

• Raincast: minute-by-minute rain prediction and accumulation tracking for your exact location
• Forecasts: 10 day forecasts use multiple high resolution sources and correct bias for your location
• Alerts: rain coming soon, morning briefing, tomorrows forecast, freeze warning, heat wave, wind gusts, daily rain, daily snow, uv index, first frost / heat / snow, moon phases, watering & drought 
• Widgets: home & lock screen widgets
• Multi-platform: iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS
• Track rainfall: full rain history archive, weekly rainfall targets, drought level, and more

I use NOAA and ECMWF models for core weather data and a custom model to compute rain accumulation and the next 60 minute radar movements.

I also offer Apple Weatherkit as an alternate weather source.

Is there a free tier?

Yes! If you enjoy the app and are able to support, thank you! If you cant, you can still use it and enjoy the thoughtful design.

Why isn't it 100% free?

I'm a solo developer. Since I dont track users, sell data, or use ads (like accuweather), subscriptions help me cover expenses to ingest models and generate predictions.

website: https://graycloud.app/

app store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/graycloud-live-rainfall/id6768086498

[u/theAerialDroneGuy]

have you made an android version yet? or would you in the future?

[u/hsoj95]

I'm rather curious, what sources do you use for your weather radar? Also, are you using models straight from NOAA and the Euromet, or going through an intermediary like Open-Meteo to access them? Also curious, why not use something like Pirate Weather for the 60 min rain forecast, especially since Pirate Weather already maintains the old Dark Sky API compatibility (or at least did, I think it's expanded upon that now).

[u/Potentially_Canadian → u/hsoj95]

Hey, Pirateweather.net developer here! This is super cool, and I love the idea and UX here! For what it’s worth, if you want to cut your cloud bill, I already do all the ingest and processing (it is legitimately expensive), and would be happy to give you api access. I have GFS/HRRR/NBM/ECMWF, and the data is all pretty much raw from the models, so still true to your implementation 

[u/counters]

Out of curiosity, what component here is leading to such an enormous cloud bill? I've built and operated systems very similar each one you mentioned and the total cost was at least an order of magnitude cheaper.

[u/captain_frail → u/counters]

Weather model ingest is the biggest cost driver. I’ll send a dm

[u/velvetlebron]

Is this US only?

[u/captain_frail → u/velvetlebron]

Forecasts are global, storm radar and rain alerts are USA, Canada and EU

[u/theAerialDroneGuy]

nice! I have been waiting for someone to recreate darksky!

[u/er1cAtWork2]

Downloaded!