Ex-Apple team launches Acme Weather, a new take on weather forecasting

Source: TechCrunch

The former Dark Sky team, who sold their popular weather app to Apple in March 2020, have launched a new weather‑forecasting app, Acme Weather. They claim it delivers more reliable forecasts and offers unique weather notifications, such as alerts for rainbows and beautiful sunsets.

Launch and Vision

Acme Weather’s forecasts are supplemented with alternate predictions to improve accuracy. Co‑founder Adam Grossman explains in an introductory blog post that the app leverages multiple numerical weather‑prediction models, satellite data, ground‑station observations, and radar data.

“Forecasts are often wrong — it’s the weather, right? Our biggest pet peeve with many weather apps is that you only get their best guess and don’t know how certain they are.” – Adam Grossman, TechCrunch interview

Having visibility into alternative outcomes helps users plan for events, especially during winter storms where the forecast may shift between snow and rain.

Forecast Approach

Acme Weather displays additional forecast lines as gray lines on its graphs, representing possible outcomes from different models.

Image Credit: Acme Weather

Features

Maps and Data

At launch the app includes a variety of maps:

• Radar, lightning, rain and snow totals
• Wind, temperature, humidity, cloud cover
• Hurricane tracks

These maps are built from the app’s own data provider rather than relying on third‑party map services.

Notifications and Acme Labs

The app provides built‑in notifications for:

• Rain, nearby lightning, severe weather alerts, community reports
• Experimental alerts such as rainbow predictions and sunset forecasts (available in the “Acme Labs” section)

Users can customize notifications to focus on specific events like wind, UV index, or the chance of rain in the next 24 hours.

Image Credit: Acme Weather

Community Reports

A Community Reports feature lets users share real‑time conditions, improving the app’s live weather reporting.

Pricing and Availability

Acme Weather is a consumer app priced at $25 per year, with a two‑week free trial. The subscription helps cover the costs of pulling in the various weather models and resources (data sources).

The app is currently available on iOS, with an Android version planned.

Team

Acme Weather is a bootstrapped venture founded by former Dark Sky members:

• Josh Reyes – Co‑founder
• Dan Abrutyn – Co‑founder
• Adam Grossman – Co‑founder, former Dark Sky co‑founder

The small team combines former Dark Sky staff with new hires, allowing them to experiment with innovative, indie‑style weather features.