Utah Avalanche Center (UAC) vs StormNet
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Utah Avalanche Center (UAC)
This free app provides essential avalanche, weather, and road information for backcountry planning in Utah. It offers daily forecasts, field observations, road cameras, and critical mountain weather data to aid safe decision-making. Features include an inclinometer and the ability to share slope photos with embedded location data.
- Daily avalanche forecasts for 7 Utah regions
- Field observations and avalanche reports
- Road cameras and travel restriction updates
- Mountain weather forecasts and data
- Inclinometer with GPS and slope data
- Photo sharing with GPS watermarks
- Observation submission forms
Read full descriptionHide full description
This free app from the Utah Avalanche Center provides access to all the information you need to plan your day in the backcountry. The app consolidates the avalanche, weather, road, and slope information you need for critical decision-making to help ensure you come home safely. App features include: - Daily avalanche forecasts for 7 regions across Utah plus access to information for 2 additional regions - Daily field observations and avalanches - Road cameras showing road conditions - Coming soon road closures and road travel restrictions - Critical mountain weather information, including current conditions, weather station links, weather forecasts, satellite loops, radar, and mountain weather cameras - Emergency contacts and your GPS location for a fast rescue response. - An inclinometer using your camera containing your GPS location, steepness, aspect, elevation, time, and date - Ability to photograph a slope watermarked with GPS location, steepness, aspect, elevation, time, and date and share that photo - Forms to quickly share observations and avalanches with the Utah Avalanche Center - A list of contacts for more information
StormNet
This app provides highly accurate severe weather forecasts using advanced radar and real-time data analysis. It predicts risks for lightning, hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes up to 14 days in advance.
- NEXRAD Super-Res Radar
- 14-day severe weather forecasts
- Lightning, hail, wind, tornado risk prediction
- Real-time data analysis
- Radar overlays (reflectivity, velocity)
- National Weather Service warnings
Read full descriptionHide full description
StormNet is optimized to provide the most accurate severe weather forecast with NEXRAD, Super-Res Radar. StormNet is completely free, with no ads. Trained on decades of severe weather events, StormNet analyzes high-resolution radar, satellites, ground-based sensors, and weather forecast models in real-time to find complex patterns that lead to severe weather. The model updates every 2 minutes to provide 14-day forecasts for lightning, hail, damaging thunderstorm winds, and tornadoes. Super-Res Radar is the highest-resolution NEXRAD radar data available from 159 stations across the continental United States. Each radar station updates every 3-4 minutes and measures the intensity of precipitation based on how much energy the radar signal receives back from objects in the atmosphere. Combined, StormNet + Super-Res Radar provides a first-of-its-kind, multiple-component severe weather forecast system for the United States. StormNet Map Overlays • Radar: The highest-resolution radar available for the United States from each radar station. • Radar + Risk: NEXRAD radar, alongside StormNet risk probabilities, for the next 4 hours. • Risk Forecast: The StormNet risk probabilities from real-time to 14 days into the future. StormNet Risk Forecasts • Lightning • Hail • Damaging Winds • Tornado Super-Res (NEXRAD) Radar • Radar Reflectivity • Radar Velocity • Spectrum Width National Weather Service Warnings • Tornado • Severe Thunderstorm • Snow Squall • Flash Flood StormNet vs. National Weather Service The National Weather Service, the Storm Prediction Center, and other government agencies are the official sources for watches, warnings, and severe weather information. StormNet should serve as a trusted and automated guide for severe weather risk, but StormNet should not be treated as an official source. StormNet vs. Traditional Weather Models Existing weather forecast models are incredible feats of engineering and predict the ingredients for severe weather, but they are not designed to excel at severe weather forecasting and are not real-time tools. StormNet was trained and optimized to provide severe weather forecasts. StormNet vs. Other Weather Apps Existing weather apps and companies usually pass along official government watches and warnings, and often communicate if lightning or hail is already close by. While these are valuable features, we are not aware of another weather app or company that matches StormNet’s ability to provide real-time updates for lightning, hail, damaging thunderstorm winds, and tornado risk. Powered by OpenSnow In 2011, OpenSnow began predicting snowfall for skiers and snowboarders. OpenSnow has since become a global leader in mountain weather forecasts and expanded to provide forecasts for every type of outdoor activity. Since lightning is a risk to outdoor activities, especially on longer mountain-based adventures, OpenSnow created a weather forecast system that would provide both lightning forecasts to support real-time decisions and multi-day outlooks to support trip planning. Meteorologist Andrew Brady built StormNet to predict the risk of severe weather. OpenSnow acquired his technology in 2024 to help people stay safe and enjoy the outdoors. — Terms & Conditions — StormNet is free and available in the United States. We'll never track you, sell ads, or collect data. We only ask for your location to show the most accurate radar and severe weather forecast. Full terms and conditions can be found here: https://support.opensnow.com/legal/terms | https://support.opensnow.com/legal/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: StormNet at 4.9 against Utah Avalanche Center (UAC)'s 4.4. Utah Avalanche Center (UAC)'s advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 82%). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
StormNet holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7 and 20 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of Utah Avalanche Center (UAC)'s written reviews are positive against 82% of StormNet's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Utah Avalanche Center (UAC) ships an update weekly, StormNet every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Utah Avalanche Center (UAC) | StormNet |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (7 ratings) | 4.9 (20 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 81.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 7 | 20 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #202 — better | #204 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 94 MB | 39 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Utah Avalanche Center | Cloudnine Weather, Inc. |
Customer experience
Utah Avalanche Center (UAC)
StormNet
In-app purchases
Utah Avalanche Center (UAC)
No in-app purchases
StormNet
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Utah Avalanche Center (UAC) free?
Is StormNet free?
Which has better reviews, Utah Avalanche Center (UAC) or StormNet?
Do Utah Avalanche Center (UAC) or StormNet have ads?
Which is updated more often, Utah Avalanche Center (UAC) or StormNet?
Which is more popular, Utah Avalanche Center (UAC) or StormNet?
Other comparisons















