WeatherAt — Canadian Weather & Climate Explorer

Solo Design and Development by Scott Cressman

WeatherAt is a Canadian weather and climate research platform I'm designing to make complex atmospheric data more accessible, understandable, and useful. It brings together current conditions, official forecasts, weather radar, observation stations, historical climate records, and environmental hazards in a map-first interface.

The goal is to move beyond the conventional weather app—where a temperature and a forecast icon tell only part of the story—and provide a richer understanding of what's happening in the atmosphere, what might happen next, and how conditions compare with the past.

WeatherAt draws on publicly available data from Environment and Climate Change Canada and other scientific agencies, translating technical information into an intuitive visual experience for everyday users and weather enthusiasts.

What's inside

  • Weather at a glance: Current temperature, feels-like conditions, wind direction and speed, humidity, atmospheric pressure, sunrise and sunset, and local weather observations.

  • Interactive weather mapping: Explore Canadian communities and weather stations using geographic maps with radar, precipitation intensity, wind information, and observation markers.

  • Hourly and extended forecasts: Follow changing conditions over the next 24 hours and review official forecasts for the coming week.

  • Forecast model comparison: Explore predictions from different publicly available weather models, helping users understand how forecasts agree, diverge, and evolve.

  • Historical climate research: Examine temperature, precipitation, and other recorded measurements across months, years, and generations.

  • One Day Through Time: Select a calendar date and compare recorded weather observations across decades, revealing the variability of weather and longer-term climate patterns.

  • Weather alerts and environmental hazards: Access official weather warnings, regional earthquake information, and coastal hazards, including tsunami advisories.

  • AuroraCast: A dedicated northern lights research experience combining auroral activity models, geomagnetic forecasts, cloud cover, and nighttime viewing conditions.

  • Community-based exploration: Search Canadian locations, examine nearby weather stations, and save frequently visited communities.

  • Responsive interface: A carefully organized experience for desktop, tablet, and smartphone, with light and dark display modes.

Who this app is for

WeatherAt is for people who want to understand more about the weather than a conventional forecast provides.

It's designed for weather enthusiasts, outdoor adventurers, photographers, educators, students, and curious Canadians who want to explore the relationship between their immediate environment and the larger atmospheric systems influencing it.

The interface is intended to remain approachable for casual users while offering greater research depth for those who want to investigate the data.

Why this matters

Most weather applications are designed to answer one question: What's the weather going to be?

WeatherAt asks a broader set of questions.

What's happening right now? How is the weather changing across a region? How reliable are different forecasts? What was the weather like on this date 30 years ago? And what can historical observations tell us about changing conditions?

WeatherAt approaches weather as an interconnected information system—one that becomes more meaningful when geography, time, observation, prediction, and historical context are explored together.

The opportunity is not simply to present more data, but to make that data easier to navigate, compare, and understand.

About the designer developer

WeatherAt is independently designed and developed by Scott Cressman, a communication designer, educator, and digital product strategist.

The project combines information design, geographic visualization, interaction design, and publicly available scientific data. It is an exploration of how contemporary development tools can help an independent designer create sophisticated, data-driven experiences that traditionally required substantial development teams.

WeatherAt is an independent research project and is not an official emergency warning service.

What if weather information helped us understand more?

WeatherAt is being developed around a simple idea: weather data should do more than tell us what to wear.

It should help us understand the environment around us, explore how it changes, and discover the stories hidden in its measurements.

Explore WeatherAt

https://cressman.ca/weatherat-app

An independent Canadian weather and climate research project. In active development.