With Winter Storm Jonas blasting the North East of the United States, Google has announced a new update to its Android weather service that will far better satisfy weather junkies wanting to know what the latest weather conditions are outside.

The ” upgraded weather experience,” as Google describes it, on Android phones will now offer a range of additional information, including:

• Hourly sky conditions
• Chances of rain
• Severe weather alerts
• Detailed 10-day forecast
• Air quality
• UV index
• Sunrise and sunset times

Along with the additional information, the weather card has also received a material design update including changing background colors to reflect the sky conditions and a little cartoon frog (what Google describes as their “new meteorologically inclined friend”) that demonstrates what the weather is like as well.

“Now when you search for “weather” or ask Google, “will it rain today?” in the Google app on your Android phone, you’ll get a wealth of new information,” Google Product Manager Lea Stolowicz notes.

“So whether you’re facing a blizzard in Boston, rain in London or unseasonably cold weather in Sydney, you’ll be better prepared to take on the day with Google.”

Meh

While a welcomed change for those who use Google to check the weather, or in the case if you’re in the North East currently, how seriously cold and snowy it is, the new Google weather feature is still no replacement for the range of dedicated weather apps out there that currently provide all this information, and in many cases more.

The cartoon experience also harks back to the cards Google previously used in its now defunct iGoogle desktop dashboard, not but that’s necessarily a bad thing.

As of the time of writing the new feature does not appear to be available globally, although there are reports of it being accessible in the United States; presumably, it will become available elsewhere with time.

The updated service is only available for users of the Google App for Android phones with no word on whether it will be extended to other platforms in the future.

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