The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Just when you thought you'd seen all the weather apps you needed to see for the iPhone or iPod touch comes another release today with one very nice feature -- animation.

Looking quite a bit like the weather screen on the HTC Diamond Touch, AniWeather [App Store link] animates the clouds, snow, sun and rain graphic making your current conditions a bit more compelling on screen than the static shot that most other weather apps provide. In fact, it seems the worse the weather, the more interesting the animation.

It is hard to describe the effect in a static image, so here is a link to a video showing AniWeather in all its pixel-moving glory. Sunny days aren't too interesting, but as the weather deteriorates the animations improve. I particularly liked the windshield wiper that leaves smudges just like the real ones.

AniWeather allows you to look up all the weather stations in the U.S. and, unlike the built in Apple weather app, can use the GPS on the iPhone to give you the weather at your current location (U.S. locations only, sadly). You can enter in multiple sites, and use your finger to swipe up and down to change them, which takes a moment to get used to as the Apple app uses a side-to-side swipe.

There isn't a lot of info beyond the basic in this app. No radar, no videos and no detail like wind speed or humidity that other apps like The Weather Channel [App Store link] or WeatherBug [App Store link] provide. Also, those apps are free while AniWeather is $.99 U.S.

On the other hand, AniWeather puts pretty pictures on screen and it might make you smile, even if the weather outside doesn't.