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Getting Better Weather Forecasts on Amazon Echo

While the Amazon Echo has a ton of awesome skills 18 Awesome New Amazon Alexa Skills You Must Try 18 Awesome New Amazon Alexa Skills You Must Try The list of Amazon Echo skills is growing all the time. Let's take a look at the most useful and silliest abilities of the last few months. Read More You probably ask Alexa about the weather almost every day, but do you ever wish it was a little better?

By default, Alexa's weather readout only provides information about your general area by zip code. If you want to hear the weather for your exact location on an hour-by-hour basis, there's an Echo skill that will help.

How to get better weather forecasts on Amazon Echo

Getting Better Weather Forecasts on Amazon Echo Getting Better Weather Forecasts on Amazon Echo Getting Better Weather Forecasts on Amazon Echo

For a better weather experience, you need to use the BigSky ability. It works with Dark Sky, a popular weather service on mobile. 5 Useful Weather Apps That Are Fun To Check Every Day 5 Useful Weather Apps That Are Fun To Check Every Day. Read more . This will help you get forecasts for your address instead of an entire city.

To install it, click Enable Skill on your desktop page, or let's say Alexa, enable Big Sky . Once you do, you will need to link your account before it will work properly.

Open the Alexa app and find Big Sky Account Settings card. Tap Link account and enter your full address. Below this, you can choose a few options like the level of detail and the temperature/wind speed units. Scroll to the bottom of the page and tap Send to complete this.

Now you can ask Alexa to get a forecast of the skill. Try the following commands:

“Alexa, ask Big Sky... ”

  • “…What is the temperature?”
  • “...will it rain today?”
  • “…What was the weather like on January 1, 1970?”
  • “…What is the low temperature in the next seven days??”
  • “...give me a weather fact.”

Big Sky does a lot by default, but the developer also offers a Premium version for $3 a year. This allows you to add multiple addresses and label them, so you can ask "What's the weather at dad's house?" Premium also allows you to get forecasts for any location, so the skill will answer “How hot will it be in Miami today??”

If this new skill inspired you, check out How to Use Alexa to Be More Productive How to Use Amazon Echo and Alexa to Be More Productive How to Use Amazon Echo and Alexa to Be More Productive If you have an Amazon Echo, you have Alexa, the virtual personal assistant and voice activated that can improve your productivity. Read more.