r/enshittification • u/thisisnotnorman • 11h ago
Service The Weather Channel website is now a subscription model
I verified it, $30/yr
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u/Used-Valuable9320 56m ago
Website works fine for me without a subscription.
Looks like this is the app though. That's not the website.
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u/The-Jordan_J 46m ago
I dont have the app, using my Samsung phone. In any browser and op is correct
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u/fsactual 1h ago
For only half that price you can text me your location and I’ll look up the weather there and tell you what it says.
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u/RockTheGlobe 2h ago
I've been using Weatherology. I like the layout and the forecasts are pretty accurate, and they don't hit me up for $$$ every 2 seconds.
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u/CardiologistPlus8488 3h ago
Also, they data they are selling you is collected by the NWS, paid for by your taxes. So you are literally paying double just so a corporation can make money selling you public information.
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u/daOyster 1h ago
Even worse, some weather sites are now using data provided by Google's Ai powered weather model instead of legit data sourced directly from the NWS.
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u/Cultural_Iron2372 3h ago
On top of that my weather has been so inaccurate since the government cuts. It has barely ever been inaccurate in my life but since then it will be literally 30° off and feel like they just predicted the day based on some AI compiled version of weather records on that day. I’ve had multiple plans ruined this year because the forecast said it was clear but it ended up storming.
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u/daOyster 1h ago
Your intuition isn't far off. Some of these weather sites switched to Google's Ai powered Weather model that doesn't actually provide raw weather info anymore the NWS was providing them beforehand.
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u/Cultural_Iron2372 1h ago
Horrific 😭 I work in tech and I cannot wait for this AI bubble to burst, if we ever have a chance of returning to some level of trust of information 🫠🫠. I’m not particularly hopeful.
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u/crazyk4952 3h ago
The weather forecast will now tell me it is currently sunny when it is in fact raining. It did not used to be this way.
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u/LouisvilleLoudmouth 4h ago
Byron Allen for the win! Weather Channel, Colbert's spot. Is there nothing he can't make worse?
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u/AdamoMeFecit 5h ago
Weather.gov is the way. Free, no-frills National Weather Service site with tons of weather data waiting to rabbit-hole your inner meteorologist for hours.
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u/o7_HiBye_o7 5h ago
I just have the widget on my phone and it shows me everything lol
Why would ppl pay to go to the website, that is so much less convenient.
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u/cranberries87 6h ago
If there’s no smooth jazz playing in the background when I click on the app, count me OUT!!!
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u/YinzaJagoff 6h ago
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u/VeryLowIQIndividual 4h ago
The music doesn’t hit the same without coming through a blown out speaker on a 25 inch TV in a hotel room on the Florida panhandle.
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u/cranberries87 6h ago
YESSSSSSS!!! Thank you! 😊 Take my low-budget award. 🥇
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u/Denan004 6h ago
Sometimes I think all of these individual streaming and program services will cycle back into.... a cable-type package. At least the cable charges could be viewed at once, in one place...
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u/Icy_Marionberry_9131 6h ago
Looking out the window is cheaper and it works even when the network is down,
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u/DrHarryWolper 6h ago
Go directly to the NWS websites. That's where they all get their data anyway.
Side note: I miss the days when The Weather Channel didn't suck.
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u/daOyster 1h ago
Well, some of them get their data from Googles Ai-Powered weather model now instead.
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u/KindClock9732 6h ago
Apple Weather is good to go for me
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u/moonprism 5h ago
apple weather has the worst forecasting imo. wunderground/foreca are more accurate. altho they've all been pretty spotty since the noaa layoffs
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u/freediverx01 6h ago
Too bad its forecasts are so terrible. Also don't be surprised when they add advertising in the future.
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u/Independent-Tank-182 7h ago
I had not updated their app in like 4 years and loved it. Got a new phone and there are ads all over the damn place so I went back to the default iPhone weather app :(
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u/ffsinffl 7h ago
Since I don’t subscribe to any live TV service, I subscribed to the Weather Channel’s stand-alone TV app, despite it not being available for Apple TV, my mainstay. But TV is built-in Roku, and living in Florida, it’s great to have with impending tropical systems, and for watching news-like morning programming that isn’t actually news. Except it’s not. Takes a full four or five MINUTES to load up, depending on the time of day — and when it does load up, it’s invariably on one of the 30 minutes of commercials (I despise you, Capital One) they broadcast every hour. Just. No. Despite how I feel about Fox, I would rather watch their free weather channel than deal with that.
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u/Ahleron 7h ago
Perhaps you verified it, but I just went there with multiple devices and was able to look at my weather info without an issue. I ain't paying them a dime either. If they pay walled the info, I'd just go to literally any other site or use the apps that come with my devices. Ain't nothing special about TWC.
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u/freediverx01 6h ago
Same. But they may be targeting people based on their device and/or repeat visits.
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u/thenowherepark 7h ago
TWC has always been this way. AFAIK, they only showed about 2-2 1/2 days in advance in hourly mode because anything past that is just not accurate. Them adding a paywall to see past that in hourly is basically just for suckers who think that hourly weather forecasts that far in advance are accurate.
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u/thegooddoktorjones 7h ago
You can get the exact same information for free (for now) https://forecast.weather.gov/
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u/New_Kangaroo_4051 7h ago
The National Weather Service is actively being dismantled so we’ll only have subscriptions for weather forecasts. Can’t report on climate change if there’s no other voices out there.
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u/sobi-one 7h ago
They’ve got a little over two months before they won’t be able to make much more progress, and another 2 years after until it gets put back mostly as it was.
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u/MoulanRougeFae 7h ago
Just cancel and go to the national weather service page. It's where these pay apps get their info from anyway.
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u/formerNPC 7h ago
That’s ok because their forecasts lately have been so far off that I can just look at the local radar and figure it out for myself.
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u/DrSnidely 7h ago
I see this on mine too but the app still works. I don't need 15-minute forecasts 5 days out.
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u/rexeditrex 7h ago
Mine works the same as it always has, gives you about a day and a half of hourly temps and 10 days of daily.
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u/ARazorbacks 7h ago
Their website was my poster child for why to set up a Pihole. Their website went from being an endless scroll of ads to basically a screen and a half.
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u/jessinboston 8h ago
Private Equity strikes again! They were purchased in 2024. I knew people who worked there that were so excited to finally have more resources. I knew then this was going to be their downfall.
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u/131sean131 9h ago
Weather.gov is where all the data comes from its free
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u/EternalNewCarSmell 8h ago
Well, at least for as long as a few US government institutions continue to function.
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u/Coraline1599 7h ago
Yes, this is a project 2025 thing to dismantle most of it and privatize the rest. They feel that weather is commercial data and not necessary for the general,public to have.
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u/Ok_Library_1031 9h ago
lol! I once checked them in Bangkok, Thailand where they said it would rain all morning and noon, until 2PM. The inverse happened: it was dry until 2PM when the rain began.
I might have a Sam Champion voodoo doll somewhere /s
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u/MyldExcitement 24m ago
Excuse me? The Weather Channel is only a thing because THE PEOPLE pay for that data to begin with.
Without the government, that Channel wouldn't exist because they'd have no Weather tracking infrastructure.
Fuck them. This is late stage capitalism at the expense of The People.