Weather is important, but sometimes you don't need a full two week forecast with barometric pressure and the exact phase of the lunar cycle. Sometimes, you just need to know if it's warm or chilly outside. Sometimes, you want to know the weather, but you just don't have your hands free.
Sometimes, you just need Google.
Google Now (opens in new tab) has always included a weather card for your current location, as well as other locations it believes you care about. With the integration of OK Google hotword detection in both the Google Now Launcher (opens in new tab) as well as some third-party launchers like Nova and Apex launchers, this inclusion meant that not only was there a weather card waiting in Google Now when you swipe up — or swipe over, in the Google Now Launcher — the weather is only a question away. Phones like the Moto X take that one step further and allow users to try have truly hands-free access to the weather.
However you get to Google Now, the weather offered there is easy to use and powered by The Weather Channel. The slider will reveal conditions over the hours of the selected day as you move it along, including the chance of rain and the projected wind speed. If you need a more detailed forecast than the 5-day provided, such as radar, there's a link to the full Weather Channel site in the bottom corner.
Google Now does more than just the immediate forecast; it can help keep you safe by alerting you to any National Weather Service warnings and advisories for your locations. Be it a snowstorm that's still two days away or a tornado that's touching down across town, Google Now can alert you if it knows where you are. And those alerts and weather cards also end up on your wrist with Android Wear, or in your peripheral vision if you're a Google Glass user.
Now, this won't be putting dedicated weather apps out of business anytime soon, but the convenience of Google Now's weather card is something Android users — and all Google Users, as these cards appear on Chromebooks and iOS devices, too — can rely on in a pinch. Do you use Google Now's weather card, or do you leave your weather needs to a dedicated app? Does Google Now's voice integration allow the weather card to supplement your weather apps when you need to know the weather while you're getting dressed in the morning? Tell us in the comments below.
Ara Wagoner was a staff writer at Android Central. She themes phones and pokes YouTube Music with a stick. When she's not writing about cases, Chromebooks, or customization, she's wandering around Walt Disney World. If you see her without headphones, RUN. You can follow her on Twitter at @arawagco.
