What’s New in PhotoWeather: September-October 2025

Over the past six weeks, we’ve shipped some significant improvements to PhotoWeather. Five major features make weather forecasting smarter, more accurate, and more photographer-focused than ever.

If you haven’t logged in lately, here’s what you’ve been missing.

1. Directional Weather Intelligence (Plus/Pro)

The Problem: Traditional weather forecasts give you data for a single point. But photographers know atmospheric conditions vary dramatically based on direction. Fog might be present to the east but clear to the west. Rain could be falling north while the sun shines from the south.

The Solution: We now analyze weather from multiple directions around your location, not just at a single point. This is especially powerful for conditions that depend on geometry—like rainbows, where you need rain in one direction and sun in another.

What Gets Enhanced

Plus and Pro subscribers automatically get multi-directional analysis for:

Rainbow Detection - Checks for rain opposite the sun and clear skies toward the sun (~70% fewer false positives)
Golden Hour Quality - Assesses atmospheric clarity in the direction of sunrise/sunset
Red Sky - Looks at cloud coverage at the horizon as well as overhead and opposite of the sun
Aurora Quality - Evaluates cloud coverage across the entire sky dome, not just overhead

Subscription: Plus/Pro exclusive

Setup: Automatic—no configuration needed. Applies to all advanced conditions and templates that use them.

Learn more: View the complete directional intelligence documentation

2. Aurora Intelligence (All Users)

The Challenge: Aurora forecasts typically just show the Kp-index (geomagnetic activity level). But as a photographer, you need to know if it’s actually worth heading out. Is it dark enough? Are clouds blocking the view? Will the aurora be overhead or just on the horizon at your latitude?

The Solution: Aurora Intelligence combines NOAA’s geomagnetic forecasts with your local conditions—latitude, darkness, cloud cover, and visibility—to give you a single photography quality score.

How It Works

Three new fields available in rules and charts:

aurora_kp_predicted - Raw Kp-index (0-10) from NOAA space weather forecasts
aurora_activity - Normalized activity score (0-100%)
aurora_quality - Combines activity with viewing conditions for photography readiness

The system accounts for your latitude (auroras visible farther south during strong storms), requires sufficient darkness (solar elevation below -6°), and checks that clouds aren’t blocking the show (cloud cover < 50%).

Quick Start

Use the built-in Aurora Borealis Hunt template:

Navigate to Rules → Templates
Select “Aurora Borealis Hunt”
Choose your northern locations
Get alerts when aurora photography conditions are favorable

Subscription: Available to all users (Pro users can view aurora_quality forecasts on weather charts, like other advanced calculated conditions)

Coverage: Works for both Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) and Southern Lights (Aurora Australis)

Learn more: Complete aurora photography guide

3. Trend Rules - Time-Based Conditions (Pro)

The Problem: Single-moment weather conditions often aren’t enough. “Fog detected at 6 AM” doesn’t tell you if it’ll last long enough to be worth the drive. “Clouds at 30%” doesn’t reveal if they’re building or clearing.

The Solution: Trend Rules let you create alerts based on weather persisting or changing over time, not just happening at a single moment.

How It Works

Create alerts based on conditions happening over time, not just happening at a single moment.

For example: “Snowfall of >5cm within 6 hours” (not just “snowfall this hour”)

Use the new Rolling Sum operator in your rules. More operators are planned, including Rolling Average/Min/Max, Then Within X Hours, Change Per Hour and many more.

Why This Matters

Instead of:

“Fog detected right now” (might dissipate in 15 minutes)

You get:

“Fog persisting for 3+ hours” (worth the drive, conditions will hold)

Subscription: Pro exclusive

Coming Soon: Additional operators like roll_mean, roll_delta, and roll_trend for detecting clearing/worsening patterns

Learn more: Trend Rules documentation

4. Rule Previewer - Test Before You Commit (All Users)

The Frustration: Creating weather rules used to be pure trial-and-error. Build a rule, wait days to see if it triggers, realize conditions were too strict or too loose, edit, wait again…

The Solution: Rule Previewer lets you test any rule against the last 30 days of actual weather data before you create it. See exactly when it would have triggered, refine thresholds in real-time, and save with confidence.

How It Works

Build your rule in the visual builder
Click “Test Rule” and select a location
Choose your date range (up to 30 days back)
See a timeline of when the rule would have matched
Adjust conditions and re-test instantly
Save when you’re satisfied

What You See

Each matched period shows:

Start and end time
Duration (minutes/hours)
Which day it occurred

The response also includes total matches and evaluation time, so you can assess if your rule is too strict (never matches) or too loose (matches constantly).

Subscription: Available to all users

Rate Limit: 15 tests per minute

Learn more: Rule Previewer documentation

5. Enhanced Rainbow Detection (Plus/Pro)

Rainbow detection has been fundamentally improved using our new Directional Weather Intelligence system.

Before vs. After

Old approach: “It’s raining somewhere nearby and the sun is at the right angle” → Many false positives

New approach: “Rain is falling in the antisolar direction (opposite the sun) AND the sun is visible” → High precision, ~70% fewer false alarms

How It Works

The system verifies rain is falling opposite the sun, confirms the sun is visible and at the right angle, and checks atmospheric clarity.

Subscription: Plus/Pro enhancement (basic rainbow detection available to all users)

Impact: If you already have rainbow rules, they’re now automatically better. No changes needed.

Learn more: Advanced weather conditions

Other Improvements

Usability

Rule builder redesigned - moved to dedicated page with improved usability especially on mobile
Better unsaved changes handling - clear warnings before losing work
Fixed touch support for sliders and modals
Better scrolling on small screens

Bug fixes

Fixed weather button - corrected navigation from location cards
Fixed “Unknown Location” bug - opportunities page now shows proper location names

Performance & Reliability

10-50x faster rule evaluation - dramatically improved speed for checking weather conditions
Duplicate event prevention - fixed bug causing redundant notifications

What’s Next

We’re just getting started. Coming soon:

More Trend Operators: roll_mean (average over time), roll_delta (change detection), roll_trend (increasing/decreasing patterns)

Enhanced Advanced Conditions: Expanding directional intelligence to more conditions like cloud drama and storm intensity

Rule Insights: Analytics showing how often your rules trigger and when

Historical Comparisons: “This rule would have matched 12 times last month”

Upgrade to Plus or Pro

Many of these improvements are available to all users, but Plus and Pro unlock additional capabilities:

Plus

Directional Weather Intelligence (enhanced rainbow, golden hour, and aurora detection)
More locations and rules
Weather data updates every 3 hours

Pro

Everything in Plus
Trend Rules (time-based conditions)
Weather data updates hourly
Advanced conditions visible on weather charts

Try These Features Today

Test Aurora Intelligence: Create a rule using the Aurora Borealis Hunt template
Preview a Rule: Build any rule and click “Test” to see when it would have triggered
Create a Trend Rule: Set up a persistent fog alert using roll_sum
Check Rainbow Accuracy: If you have existing rainbow rules, notice fewer false positives (Plus/Pro)

Questions? Feedback? Email pontus@photoweather.app.

Happy shooting, Pontus

All features mentioned are live in production. Some features require Plus or Pro subscriptions as noted. Free accounts get aurora intelligence, trend rules, and rule previewing at no cost.