In the Netherlands we have to deal with strongly changing weather conditions that follow each other quickly. Wet, dry, hot, cold: the weather is never very boring. If you want to do an outdoor activity, it is wise to check in advance whether precipitation will fall. That is very easy in the weather app on your iPhone and nowadays also on iPad and Mac.
In the weather app you can check how big the chance of precipitation is in the coming hours or days. Within 24 hours the percentage per hour is displayed then per day. But what does that percentage actually mean? If there is 90%, does it mean that it will rain all day? No, the precipitation percentage has different meaning.
Meaning of the precipitation percentage in the weather app
The precipitation percentage in the weather app indicates how much the chance is that there will be precipitation at a certain place. However, it does not indicate the intensity and duration of the rain. That can be half an hour, but also the entire day. KNMI describes the percentage as follows: the chance that someone in a permanent place in the Netherlands will get precipitation one day.
In the precipitation percentage of the weather app, it is also included how much of a certain area is achieved by precipitation. In the weather forecast, it is first calculated how great the chance of a shower is. This is then multiplied by the percentage of the area that actually has to deal with the precipitation.
Always keep in mind that you have a margin of error when calculating the amount of rain you can expect. When in doubt, just bring an umbrella.
More information about the weather conditions
In the Weer app you can also view the weather forecasts per hour for the next ten days. Tap or click on a day in the weather forecast and immediately you can view all data per hour. At the top of the graph you can switch between temperature, precipitation, wind, UV index, etc. Place your finger or place the mouse pointer in the graph to view the exact values ​​per hour. Handy if you have to plan something in advance.