wX

Joshua Tee

About this app

wX is a free, no-ads, and open-source ( GNU GPLv3 ) advanced weather application that is geared towards storm chasers, meteorologists, and weather enthusiasts. NWS ( National Weather Service ) data is optimized for mobile format and provided for divisions not normally covered together in the mobile space: SPC, WPC, NHC, OPC, etc. Level 3 and Level 2 Nexrad radar ( single, dual, quad pane ) are provided and displayed using the mobile variant of OpenGL. This weather app is not affiliated with NOAA or the National Weather Service.

If you *only* need current conditions and your local 7 day forecast then this app is probably more then you need although it will easily provide those 2 things as well. If you are looking for wasted screen real estate or fancy graphics this app is not for you. Given the depth of information covered there is a steep learning curve if you seek to use the program in it's entirety, help information is available and touched on below. Common weather acronyms are used throughout so you should be familiar with those as well. Currently United States locations are supported.

HELP is available from the main menu and by tapping on any text in the settings activities.

- Current forecast, 7 day conditions, sounding data for an unlimited number of locations from NWS.
- Customizable home screen
- (Android only) Tiles can be rearranged by long press and then drag and drop on Tabs: SPC, MISC, and IMAGES
- OpenGL based Nexrad radar interface with numerous options. Level 2 in the lowest tilt for base reflectivity/velocity is also available. 2 pane and 4 pane version also available in MISC tab.
- Optimized text product viewer for easy access to AFD,HWO and others from any NWS WFO.
- Vis/IR/WV/Radar mosaic viewer ( with animations ).
- Widgets ( nexrad radar, radar mosaic, vis, afd/hwo )
- SPC products ( such as Watches/MCDs/Convective Outlooks/Mesoanalysis )
- WPC products
- Weather models
- NHC products

(Android only) Notifications:
- Local alerts
- MCDs impacting your location
- MPDs impacting your location
- Convective outlooks for your location
- US MCD/Watches
- US tornadoes
- US MCD
- US MPD
- NHC Atlantic and EPAC advisories

Requirements: Android 4.1 or higher with 1GB of memory at a minimum ( recommended ).
Access required: App needs access to Your Location, Network Communication, Systems tools ( run at start-up for alerts ).

This app is licensed under the following license available online at ( and in source code zip):
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html

FAQ at:
https://gitlab.com/joshua.tee/wxl23/-/blob/master/doc/FAQ.md

Source code at:
https://gitlab.com/joshua.tee/wx

Release notes at:
https://gitlab.com/joshua.tee/wx/-/blob/master/doc/ChangeLog_User.md

Ratings and reviews

The best Android NEXRAD radar viewer, it's free (as in freedom) and open-source. It also has some extra weather and analysis products. I'm pretty sure data comes straight from the NWS, so it's fast and doesn't have any mobile data-eating bloat. It has to be the only app that I know of, free or paid, that displays the actual polar radar scan data, not just rasterized images. It can also overlay current GPS and home locations on the radar map, along with warning zones and boundaries. No nonsense.

Once you learn the interface, this has got to be one of the most powerful weather apps out there...right up there with RadarOmega and RadarScope...but it's FREE! The number one quality feature? The help screens.. it actually tells you what you're looking at, and what the numbers, colors, and everything else means. You can grab just about any map from the NWS, and the app loads them fast and helps interpret. Honestly, can't praise the developer enough!

This app won't open. UPDATE: app has some bug issues again. Won't open just sits on "wX" 1st screen. Uninstalled it twice since last Thursday. Gonna wait a few days to reinstall it. Hopefully no bad weather surprises us because this is the only weather app I use and trust. If you get the issue fixed then I'd redownload again. 💯

What's new

Please see release notes (which includes a link to upcoming changes in 2024 and a note about the KLIX Nexrad radar in the FAQ) here:
https://gitlab.com/joshua.tee/wx/-/tree/master/doc/ChangeLog_User.md