These are the weather apps you recommend for cricket

Discussing the weather might be a British obsession but it’s vital when it comes to cricket.

Whether you’re prepping a cricket square, playing in a team, running a coaching session or going to watch a game, it pays to be prepared.

I reached out to Cricket Yorkshire readers to get a snapshot of the weather apps, news bulletins and websites to get your recommendations.

A cross-section of players, coaches, umpires, groundskeepers and spectators chipped in with their thoughts – by all means, add your own experiences as a comment at the end.

Met Office

I use this for everything including cricket, and like alternatives, it can be hit and miss but is a useful guide – after all, weather is unpredictable.

I tend to fire up the forecast for the Met Office website via Google rather than consider apps, just a personal preference.

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Chance of precipitation/rainfall, wind speed, together with UV / pollen and pollution levels are additional pieces of the puzzle.

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My wife will often hear me moaning about the ‘feels like’ temperature which as metrics go must be as arbitrary as they come.

The Met Office came up quite a lot as an option used by many. It’s free, easy to use and to understand.

BBC Weather

Millions use the BBC weather website or apps and that includes those who want to plan for cricket.

In the app, you can get the weather at a glance, notifications daily, listen to the forecast if you want, add different locations to view at the same time, see ahead and sync across devices.

Plug in a town, city or postcode while considerations such as flood warnings or other weather events are available too.

Peter Taylor, on the ground staff at Yorkshire County Cricket Club (as well as looking after Ben Rhydding CC) told me that for county or club cricket, the sources tend to be the same which is a blend of Met Office, BBC, Accuweather and Rain Today.

With those looking after cricket grounds, hedging bets by checking a few forecasts to get a sense of what’s coming up seems to be what happens.

When on-site at Ben Rhydding, Peter reckoned that there’s no substitute for keeping a close eye out on what’s coming so the covers can be ready to go.

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“Just use your own eyes and experience… the prevailing weather comes down the valley so if you can’t see the moors towards Addingham, you’re getting some!”

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There’s also longer-range forecasting to get a broader picture (rain all week, scattered showers or a settled forecast) then on the day and local know-how if your cricket club is on a hilltop or nestled in a valley.

There is no cricket grounds weather app, presumably because it would just use the same meteorological data as many do anyway!

AccuWeather

One of the weather sources that cropped up in conversations; not one I use and the ads quickly drove me up the wall.

No, when I’m on a weather website, I am not thinking ahead several decades to buying a retirement dwelling in Idle!

I’m quite partial to gizmo’s (tech rather than furry Gremlins) so their weather radar, temperature and clouds tools caught my eye. AccuWeather have all kinds of data (of dubious use perhaps) such as it being a moderate day for ragweed pollen!

Best of the Rest?

Paul at St Chad’s Broomfield CC (and others) recommend the Dark Sky / Hyperlocal app.

The satellite map shows the next hour’s forecast and also sends notifications of when rain is due and when it’s expected to stop, which is helpful for timing when to cut the grass/inspect the pitch between showers.

For the outlook in that week, the BBC Countryfile weather forecast got a few mentions too – with the added bonus that you’ll learn about the wildlife, and planting tips for your garden or cricket ground.

David Hodgson at Kirkstall Educational CC referenced the Prodata Weather Systems/Weather Blog and I liked the blend of relaxed weather chat and stunning bird photography.

Something a bit left-field but intriguing is a weather app for drone pilots called UAV Forecast.

Mark at Caught Light Photography thought the detail was useful for a snapshot over the coming days, presented in a simple grid pattern.

Google’s weather (searchable from any browser) pulls in data from the Weather Channel and for a quick visual guide while Googling your favourite Cricket Yorkshire articles, it might do the job.

As Google knows everything from your bowling action to what you had for breakfast, it has a trick up its sleeve I haven’t seen elsewhere.

Plug in a cricket club weather search term and it plucks that out for you. (I.e. Google ‘skipton cricket club weather’).

Weather sayings

Do you have any? I was in touch with Ian Morrison of Beverley Town Cricket Club. He told me: “If it’s black over Bill’s house, it’s going to rain.”

Somewhat naively, I asked who Bill was and where he lived.

It turns out this is a variation on the saying: “Looking a bit black over Bill’s mother’s” which has mysterious origins with some believing Bill refers to William Shakespeare and others linking it to the Midlands and perhaps a local tale from Nottingham.

Any Yorkshire sayings about the weather?

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this article and now over to you….

Leave a comment below!

What do you do to check on the weather if you have cricket to plan for? Leave us a comment with any weather-related tales, advice or sayings.