Tip #11. Select the forecast step of 1 hour or 3 hours in the Windy.app

Among 100+ Windy.app features, there are always one or two, or even three small ones that you didn't know about, right? Even if you're a true weather and outdoor expert using the app. Meanwhile, these may be small, but important features.

For example, you can select the forecast step of 1 hour or 3 hours. Why should I do that? The forecast step is how many hours ahead during each day you can see the forecast. In even simpler words, how fast the forecast "goes" inside each day. There are two common steps: 1 hour and 3 hours. Some weather models provide a forecast in 3 hours step only like GFS, one of the two major global models, or MFWAM for wave forecasting. But most models have a 1 hour step, which is more convenient because that way you can know the weather for every hour instead of a 3 hours span, which is quite a lot for such a сhangeable phenomenon as the weather. Anyway, in Windy.app, you can choose one or another, because in models with 3 hours step, we divide it up to 1 hour for your convenience.

Here’s exactly how you can do it:

1. Open your favorite outdoor spot or closest one to your location by searching on the app's Home screen or on the Weather map. For example, let’s take Beijing (北京市) — the capital of China, where the Winter Olympics are taking place at the time of publication of this advice.

Beijing, China (北京市) on the Weather Map in Windy.app for iOS

Beijing, China (北京市) weather forecast in the Windy.app for iOS

2. Change the forecast step clicking on the "1 h / 3 h" small icon in the upper left corner of the forecast table. Do it again if needed.

Beijing, China (北京市) weather forecast in the Windy.app for iOS

3. If you go back to the Weather map clicking on the map area on the spot screen, you will see that there is only 3 hours forecast step from all weather models.

Beijing, China (北京市) weather forecast in the Windy.app for iOS

Read all useful tips in the Windy.app blog. You can also find them all on the Tips page in the Support section of the website:

Text: Ivan Kuznetsov, an outdoor journalist, editor and writer from the Dolomites, Italy, and Karelia, Finland, with 10 years of professional experience. His favorite sports are hiking, cycling and sauna. Read his other articles

Cover photo: Nicolai Berntsen / Unsplash