For years, Weather Underground was the go-to recommendation for people who wanted something better than the big, bloated weather portals. It felt nerdy, data-driven, and refreshingly practical. You checked the forecast, maybe glanced at a graph, and moved on with your life.
That version of Weather Underground is gone.
Today, Weather Underground (wunderground.com) is owned by the same company that owns The Weather Channel. And unsurprisingly, it’s suffered the same fate.
More ads. More trackers. More scripts. More clutter. Different logo, same slop.
What Went Wrong With Weather Underground?
Weather Underground built its reputation on community weather stations, dense data, and a relatively clean interface. But since being folded into the same corporate ecosystem as The Weather Channel, the priorities shifted:
- Ad saturation that slows the site to a crawl
- Busy, noisy layouts that bury the actual forecast
- Engagement-first design, not utility-first design
It’s no longer the scrappy alternative—it’s just another mainstream weather portal wearing a lab coat.
If you’re here, you’re probably looking for what Weather Underground used to be: fast, focused, and respectful of your time.
The Best Alternatives to Weather Underground
LuxWeather
LuxWeather is a modern, ad-free weather site designed around a simple idea: the forecast should load instantly and look pleasant.
Instead of dashboards and widgets, LuxWeather presents the weather through pixel-art TV channels, inspired by classic cable forecasts like WeatherStar. The default channel is clean and nostalgic, and Premium users can unlock additional styles, including a minimalist ASCII-inspired channel.
No ads. No popups. No corporate nonsense.
If you liked Weather Underground for its clarity—but miss the calm—it’s an easy upgrade.
National Weather Service (NWS)
The National Weather Service remains one of the few large-scale weather sites that hasn’t sold out its interface.
It’s not pretty. It’s not fun. But it’s fast, accurate, and completely free of ads.
If you want raw, official data with zero nonsense, the NWS still delivers.
wttr.in
If Weather Underground once appealed to your inner nerd, wttr.in probably will too.
It delivers forecasts in pure ASCII, works in terminals and browsers, and loads instantly. No tracking, no ads, no UX theatrics—just text and weather.
It’s not for everyone, but it’s honest.
Weather Shouldn’t Feel Like a Content Farm
Weather Underground used to feel like a tool. Now it feels like a funnel.
That’s the broader tragedy of modern weather sites: some of the most basic information on earth has been turned into a bloated media product. Forecasts are secondary. Engagement is king.
If you want a clean, fast, ad-free experience that actually respects your attention, start with LuxWeather.
For a broader critique of the industry, see Why Are Weather Sites So Bad Now?.