Weather Underground is my favorite weather site by far.  The forecasts seem to be among the more accurate out there, and they are based on both the official National Weather Service forecasts and observations by Weather Underground’s own meteorologists.   Weather Underground was founded in 1995 by Dr. Jeff Masters, a meteorologist and former NOAA Hurricane Hunter from 1986-1990.  With all the other sites out there, why this one?

For one, it seems less commercial.  It does have ads, but you can pay a small fee per year to get an ad-free site.  Current conditions are not only reported by local airports, Weather Underground has a large network of personal weather stations that report in real-time to the site.  In many large suburban areas, you can often find one or two weather stations within a mile of your current location.  It also offers animated radar maps, satellite imagery, air quality indexes (for pollution, allergens, etc.), astronomy charts, a professional weather discussion from the NOAA, and weather stickers that you can put on your own website.  Not only that, there is access to a lot of historical data, streaming broacasts from the NOAA weather radio network, and downloadable extras for your computer.  It is also available in a mobile version, a lite version, and another for the iPhone.

It feels the most “personal” of all the weather sites out there.   In fact, you can create your own WunderBlog and upload your own weather photos, which other members can vote on..  Jeff Masters has his own blog as well, and given his background and experience, they are always an interesting read.  Today’s blog entry covers the Swine Flu outbreak, and how it may, or may not, be influenced by seasonal weather changes.

No, I’m not affiliated with this site in any way, other than being an avid fan and subscriber.  Highly recommended–it’s been one of my top sites for years!