iPhone Weather App (Incorrectly) Predicts Snow and Sleet for Sydney

iPhone users in Sydney got a strange surprise from their weather app this morning, with the built-in iOS weatherman predicting a downfall of sleet and snow. But don’t start stockpiling tinned food just yet. As bad as the weather has been lately, this isn’t The Day After Tomorrow. Your iPhone just got it wrong.

Turns out the Apple weather app is powered by the American-owned company The Weather Channel, which means it’s not always particularly reliable for those of us on the other side of the world.

“They've obviously got a lower quality data source for Australia than a local provider,” Weatherzone meteorologist Alex Zadnik told The Sydney Morning Herald, adding that “there's no chance of snow and sleet with temperatures above five degrees. It's wrong on many many levels.”

Screencaps of the dodgy forecast were plastered across social media before Apple had time to correct the mistake. For the record, the app is now back to predicting the same thing it has been for days: rain, wind and thunderstorms.

In their latest severe weather warning this morning, the Bureau of Meteorology likewise warned residents of the Metropolitan and Illawarra districts to prepare for more torrential rainfall and damaging winds, as the city continues to be battered by some of the heaviest storms in close to twenty years. So yeah, you won’t be sledding down George St anytime soon. White water rafting, on the other hand, might actually be a possibility.

Via SMH.

Image: Miniskirts in a snowstorm, NYC 1969. Historic NWS Collection, Wikimedia Commons.