Best Free Weather Apps For Vanlife, RVing, And Traveling

Best Free Weather Apps For Vanlife Featured Image

We use a variety of free weather apps for vanlife to help us plan our travels and keep us safe. While most people are probably familiar with the typical weather apps, this post shares some really unique apps that go beyond a basic weather forecast. These apps are great for anyone doing vanlife, RVing, or traveling.

While some of the apps do have paid versions, we have been totally happy with the information and experience provided to free users. You usually just have to put up with some ads mixed in. Using these awesome apps, we are able to find information about wind, wildfires, air quality, lightning strikes, pollen, surf/snow reports, and even when to fly our drone. This information helps us plan when and where to drive, hike, kayak, ski, hit the beach, or any other adventure we are planning.

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Weather Bug App

The Weather Bug App is pretty close to being our all-in-one weather app. It has a great interface that provides ALL its features for free. But probably my favorite thing about Weather Bug is the air quality and wildfire maps/alerts. We really appreciate the map view of air quality and wildfires. It helps us decide when and where to recreate outdoors.

The lightning strike information is also useful for helping us avoid potential storms and decide when to seek shelter. Weather Bug also has some of the best pollen information available.

So when you include all the unique information plus typical weather forecasts and radar, the Weather Bug App is one of the best free weather apps for vanlife, RVing, and traveling.

My Radar App

The My Radar App is our favorite free app for radar specifically. The live radar is front and center of the entire app’s interface. The radar is great for identifying storms as they approach, and also for up-to-the-minute view at clouds and precipitation as they pass over.

And the My Radar App is the only one we have found that shows a multi-day forecast for wind. Wind is a huge factor for vans and RV’s. Driving a large vehicle in strong wind can be really annoying or even dangerous. And we can plan our outdoor activities around the wind.

The app also has the ability to overlay air quality, wildfires, and more. (However Weather Bug still provides better information in these categories).

My Radar can also provide banner alerts to your phone. I have it set up to notify me 15 minutes before rain is likely.

And in addition to the radar, the app provides a good weather forecast with all the metrics you would expect (temp, precip, cloud cover, etc).

The one negative of My Radar is that their charts and diagrams aren’t very intuitive to understand at first.

Fire Weather & Avalanche Center

This one isn’t actually an App, but rather a website, though it works well on mobile. But for information about wildfires, there is no better resource than the Fire Weather & Avalanche Center. I have this webpage bookmarked and check it regularly during fire season.

There is tons of information about all known fires, seriously it’s probably more than your average person wants to know. But whether you are looking for at-a-glance info or want the in depth details, the Fire Weather & Avalanche Center has it.

Fire Weather And Avalanche Center is a very useful website for wildfire information.

The default interface is a map view with color-coded fire icons. But from there, you can click on any fire to learn more about them. They cover everything from size, containment percentage, growth potential, and often even an incident write-up. There’s also information about who to contact to provide or receive additional information. For wildfire information, there is no better free resource.

Open Snow App

For all my fellow skiers and snowboarders, the Open Snow App is a must-have. They provide snowfall reports and forecasts to help you chase the powder. And there are typically regional forecast experts who provide write-ups to explain current and future storm systems, and how they may affect snowfall.

You can save your favorite ski resorts so that your go-to mountains are easy to monitor.

The Open Snow App interface showing snow reports and forecasts.

The free version provides forecasts up to 5 days ahead, which is plenty for most people. However, paid users ($30/year) get forecasts up to 10 days, plus live mountain cams, and other perks.

If you ski or snowboard then Open Snow is one of the best free apps for vanlife, RVing, and traveling.

Open Snow also has a sister app called Open Summit which is a very good resource for hiking in the mountains. But users complain that the free version is practically useless, so I wouldn’t waste time with it unless you are an avid mountain hiker or climber and are willing to pay the $30/year membership.

Magic Seaweed App (Surf/Ocean)

For all my surfers out there, Magic Seaweed is one of the best free apps for surf reports, tides, wind, hazards, and more. The app has surf reports for nearly all of the good surf spots with an easy-to-understand interface.

The Magic Seaweed app can also be helpful for other ocean activities like kayaking, boating, or fishing.

The Magic Seaweed App shows helpful surf reports, wind, tide info, and more.

UAV Forecast App

The UAV Forecast App is designed specifically for drone operators. But even if you are not a droner, it’s still a great app for hyper-detailed short-term weather forecasting.

It’s our go-to resource for deciding when it’s safe to operate our drone. It has information about wind, temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, visibility, and available satellites (most drones need satellite connections for optimal control). UAV Forecast also has a map view with “No Fly Zones” like National Parks, airports, etc.

The UAV Forecast App shows very detailed weather forecasts, and is one of the best weather apps for vanlife.

But even if you don’t want to get into all the details, UAV Forecast boils down the information into a simply “Good To Fly” or “Not Good To Fly” icon. So it’s a great app for beginners and experts alike.

The negative is that free users only get 24-hour forecasting. You can upgrade to the premium membership for $23.99/year to see 7-day forecasts.

The UAV Forecast App shows clear information about when it's safe to fly a drone, and is one of the best weather apps for vanlife.

Conclusion | Best Free Weather Apps For Vanlife, RVing, and Traveling

The common weather apps sometimes just don’t cut it for travelers and outdoor enthusiasts. That’s why we rely on a variety or other apps that provide unique information. Apps with information about wildfires, air-quality, snow reports, and more are critical tools that help us plan our travels. They help us pick the best day for each adventure, but more importantly keep ourselves and our vehicle safe.