PocketGrib Lite

Nicko Brennan

About this app

With PocketGrib Lite GRIB file viewer you can easily download, view and analyse global weather data.

Wind, preciptation, pressure, temperature and wave data extracted from GRIB files are displayed through our simple interface.

The Lite version is limited to downloading and viewing 48 hours of forecast data using the GFS weather model to 1° resolution and 6 hour time step. Upgrade to the full version to get up to 8 days of forecast across the full range of weather models with the highest resolution.

This GRIB viewer is perfect for sailors (both sailing and in the pub), windsurfers, storm chasers, outdoor enthusiasts, amateur and professional meteorologists.

Features
- Choose your map location and have weather information overlaid
- Mapped weather can be animated
- Weather can be viewed as a meteogram (graph) or raw data
- Configurable download to minimise file sizes (great for roaming)
- GRIB files can be downloaded to your PC
- Displays online or offline

PocketGrib downloads and displays the following weather types:
- Wind speed and direction (10 m above mean sea level)
- Precipitation (rain, snow etc)
- Pressure
- Air temperature
- Waves (including Mediterranean and Black Sea)
- Cloud cover
- Relative humidity
- CAPE (Convective Atmospheric Potential Energy)
- Current (Atlantic only)
Direct download of GRIB data from NOAA's GFS (Global Forecast System) model
- Forecasts up to 2 days (full version to 8 days)
- Data steps: 3hr (full version), 6hr, 12hr
- Worldwide Coverage
- Resolution: 0.25° (full version), 0.5° (full version), 1°, 2°
- Data updated 4 times a day (every 6 hours)
The full version also support for COAMPS, WW3, NOGAPS, RTOFS (Currents) and FNMOC WW3 (Mediterranean wave) models.

By downloading only what the user needs it it possible to keep the GRIB files small which makes it especially convenient for low bandwidth regions or when roaming internationally.

GRIB forecasts are published without human intervention or review. Therefore some knowledge and awareness is required by the end user. Most GRIB models do NOT accurately forecast hurricanes and tropical cyclones so their use should be combined with specific hurricane and tropical cyclone forecasts.

Ratings and reviews

Non existent Customer Support. Have used for several year and found it useful. Recently on both my phone and tablet it started playing up Slow to download, map only partially showing and display pixelating on modest zoom. Emailed developer 8 days ago. Deafening silence. Not acceptable. Will unintall and subscribe to Windy instead.

Simple and clear depiction of grib info map. File downloads are small and fast. A couple of times on opening I couldn't tell where the map was centered or the zoom level. The Lat-Long info in the corner helped me out though.

Very good accuracy on all regions. I would like to rate it 5 stars actually but user interface is not the best. But data quality is best.