Five Apps That Will Keep You Informed During Hurricane Season
Nextdoor
A great resource at any time of year, Nextdoor, which has been around since 2011, allows you to join neighborhood-specific groups and keep up-to-date with what's going on in your neck of the woods. (Think of it as a virtual town hall.) If your internet goes down because of the storm, use the app to stay in touch with your neighbors. You can find out about downed trees or wires, lost pets, the availability of supplies, rescheduled garbage and recycling pickup times and more, plus just check in with your neighbors. Then, after the storm is over, use it to find or recommend contractors, home repair services and more. Free
FPL
Florida Power & Light's convenient app allows you to make payments, report an outage, estimate your next bill and check your energy usage. But our favorite feature, especially during hurricane season, is that it allows you to track power outages and get estimates on when it might be restored. Free
NOAA Weather Radar Live: Clime
This is the official app of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and it offers the typical forecasts, real-time weather radar and severe weather alerts, plus air-quality data, lightning tracking, wildfire locators and, of course, hurricane monitoring. If you love weather, this is a fun one to have in your pocket. Free seven-day trial, then $6.99 per month or $19.99 per year
AccuWeather
Just another great weather app—and it recently added hurricane tracking capabilities. It also offers detailed forecasts and updates, severe weather alerts, daily snapshots that provide cloud cover and humidity info, allergy outlooks, U.V. indexes, sunrise and sunset times, RealFeel technology (you know, for when it's 90 degrees Fahrenheit but feels like 110), and minute-by-minute breakdowns of weather over a two-hour period. Free, but there's an ad-free version for $8.99 per year
We love Reddit because it reminds us there's a discussion thread for every single thought that's ever crossed our minds—but also because, like Nextdoor, it provides real-time updates on community goings-on, often before the news can cover them. Its user-generated content includes text updates, photos and videos. It calls itself "the front page of the internet" for a reason. Free
