The Met Office app allows travellers to make informed choices about the weather when planning their journeys.

Since it was launched six months ago, the Met Office app has been awarded 4* rating in the app stores, and it has now been listed in Google Play as one of the Top Apps of 2016. Using Met Office world-leading weather prediction, the app delivers accurate forecasts and severe weather warnings straight into users’ hands, wherever they are, for up to seven days in advance.

With many people travelling this Christmas to spend time with friends and family, being aware of forecast weather can help them travel more safely. According to a recent Met Office survey, from slipping in bad weather to experiencing a car accident, four out of ten people across the UK have undergone a winter-related mishap. To help your Christmas travel planning, the Met Office has upgraded its popular weather app ahead of the festive season.

“In the run-up to Christmas, with people rushing to attend functions and visiting family and friends it can be all-too easy to dash out of the house before considering the weather,” says Dee Cotgrove, Executive Head of Media and Communications at the Met Office. However, our app upgrades means that it has never been easier to check the forecast. “Everyone wants to be prepared for Christmas, but we should also be thinking about preparing for winter weather too.”

This week the Met Office has released an update giving users the ability to customise the home screen of the app to show the next seven days of weather for their chosen places, or the next few hours. This gives you the freedom to view the weather in the way that is most useful to you, depending on what you are doing. During the Christmas period you can keep track of the weather across a number of locations that are important to you, using the day view during the countdown to Christmas or the hourly view, such as on Christmas Day itself, to see when it’s best to head out and stroll off those mince pies.

Customer feedback

Part of the app’s popularity has evolved from the Met Office’s strong focus on understanding the needs of their users. The developers review every piece of customer feedback are continuously testing updates and new features of the app with users.

Nikki Peckham, Senior Digital Product Owner at the Met Office, added: “As we continue to learn about our users we continue to develop and improve the app. A unique feature of the Met Office Weather app is the presenter-led video forecast which is updated three times a day. Users also like our new weather warnings map and our real-time alerts of potentially hazardous weather. Early in 2017 we will provide an interactive map featuring forecasts and observations.”

Key features of the app include:

• Multiple locations giving forecasts for your home, place of work and where friends and family live
• Toggle to view hourly or daily forecast for chosen locations
• National forecast video
• Probability of rain, sleet, snow, hail, and drizzle
• UK National Severe Weather Warnings

This week also marks the start of our Christmas app campaign.

You can find the Met Office app by searching ‘Met Office’ in app stores.