‘I find them quite magical’: the UK’s obsession with weather apps

A guest at Henley Royal Regatta earlier this month, probably checking when the rain will finally stop. Photograph: Maureen McLean/Rex/Shutterstock

Several times a day, Francesca Simon, the author of the Horrid Henry children’s books, gets out her phone to check the weather – not just for where she is, but where friends and family live, where she has been on holiday, where she was brought up.

“I love weather apps. I find them quite magical,” she said. With about 10 locations logged, her friends make fun of her “weather porn” habit. “If I don’t like what I’m seeing on one app, I’ll check another.”