PhotoWeather is a weather alert service for photographers that monitors forecasts 24/7 and notifies you only when conditions match your photography goals—so you never miss sunrise fog, dramatic storms, or that perfect golden-hour cloud break.
What is PhotoWeather?
PhotoWeather turns raw weather forecast data into specific shoot opportunities by letting you define the conditions worth leaving for. It takes your locations and custom rules (or pre-made templates) as input and outputs timed alerts with confidence scores and evidence such as cloud cover, visibility, and sun elevation. The service runs as a web app and mobile app (iOS/Android), built by an independent developer team (no company name stated on the page).
Key Features
- Rule builder with 90+ parameters — Combine weather (cloud cover, wind, visibility, humidity, dewpoint, CAPE), astronomy (sun, moon, aurora, Milky Way), and light (golden hour, blue hour) using AND/OR/NOT logic. Example: “Golden hour + 20–60% clouds + wind <7 m/s.”
- Pre-made photography templates — Start with templates like Fog Hunter, Painted Sky, or Mirror Lake instead of building rules from scratch.
- 20+ forecast models — Pulls from ECMWF, DWD, NOAA, MET Norway, Météo-France, and others to avoid relying on a single source.
- Directional weather intelligence — Checks sky around your location in all directions and distances to spot incoming light, cloud breaks, and drama that a single point forecast misses.
- Smart notifications — Receive morning digests for planning or instant alerts for time-sensitive opportunities. Each alert includes start time, duration, confidence score, and the specific values that triggered it.
- Calendar sync — Subscribe to iCal feeds per location; photo windows update automatically in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook, or any iCal-compatible app.
- Cross-platform syncing — Locations, rules, opportunities, and alerts stay synced between the web app and mobile apps (iOS/Android).
Who is it for?
- Landscape photographers who need to know when valley fog, golden-hour light, or calm reflections will occur at specific mountain or forest locations.
- Aurora and astro photographers tracking moonless nights, clear skies, and aurora probability with multi-model confidence.
- Coastal and storm chasers wanting alerts for dramatic cloud formations, wind speed thresholds, and lightning potential.
- Travel photographers managing multiple locations across time zones, with per-location rules and instant notifications.
What can you do with PhotoWeather?
- Save locations and define custom alert rules — Add beaches, ridges, forests, lakes, dark-sky spots, or client locations. Each place can have its own time windows and alert thresholds.
- Get actionable go/no-go decisions — Each opportunity shows the start time, duration, confidence percentage (e.g., “High 88%”), and the weather values that matched (e.g., cloud cover 62%, diffuse ratio 0.72).
- Plan days ahead with extended horizon — Free tier provides a 3-day horizon; Pro extends to 14 days with hourly refreshes and trend tracking for conditions forming or fading.
How does PhotoWeather work?
- Create an account and add your first location.
- Choose a template (e.g., golden hour, dense fog, mirror-calm water) or build a custom rule from 90+ fields using AND/OR logic.
- Receive notifications via email (Free) or custom reminders and instant alerts (Pro). Each alert explains why it matched, when the window starts, how long it lasts, and how confident the forecast is.
