Pokemon GO’s Weather is So Temperamental

For the last few days, it has been pissing it down. Which is a good thing, because we need the rain around here. If we don’t get enough rain now, then we get droughts in the summer. However, while the skies have opened up and drowned the roads, if you open up Pokemon GO, the weather is… windy. Maybe cloudy. But definitely not raining. Funnily enough, here in Cyprus, rainy weather in Pokemon GO is exceptionally rare.

When I visited the UK back in the beginning of December, it was pretty much the same. But the first two days that we were there, it was freezing and insanely foggy. To the point that visibility was insanely low on roads. Granted, the fog made everything look awesome, but it wasn’t the best to drive in. However, whenever we opened Pokemon GO, the weather was cloudy. Except for the day or so that Pokemon GO claimed it was snowy, AFTER those two foggy days and after the temperature had increased.

During that brief snowy period, we didn’t even see that many new spawns. It was mainly just weather-boosted Bergamite, Snorunt and Glalie. I did see the occasional Bronzor, but most other spawns were the exact same. I was kinda hoping that we’d see something interesting. After all, there are more ice types than just Snorunt and Bergamite. We could have seen Swinubs, Snovers and Spheals, but the only interesting thing I saw was an Alolan Vulpix.

Really though, what we should have seen was foggy weather. But foggy weather is almost impossible to see. Despite the fact that it was probably a tad dangerous to drive, that the fog was everywhere, the weather in Pokemon GO was still just cloudy. And occasionally snowy. Even though it wasn’t snowing. But no, foggy weather is a myth. And my desire to catch a weather-boosted dark type Pokemon remains just a fantasy. Ironically, the one time it did briefly snow while we were in the UK, it didn’t show as snowing in Pokemon GO.

As to why the weather is so inaccurate in Pokemon GO? Apparently it’s because Pokemon GO partially sets its weather based on a static weather forecast of the day. According to gamepress.gg, Pokemon GO uses AccuWeather, which is a weather aggregator, and updates based on the hourly forecast projected by AccuWeather, rather than what the weather actually is. Weather is also split between cells, which can be somewhat large areas, meaning that the in-game weather is rarely accurate. I actually used to live on the edge of a weather cell, and at one point, I could switch between rainy and sunny weather, because it was ‘raining’ in the hills but not on the coast. Even though it was generically partly cloudy.

Still, weather does do some cool things. Catching a weather-boosted Pokemon is always nice. Sure, they’re harder to catch, but they’re a higher level, they have better stats and they give more stardust. That being said, if you’re looking for Pokemon for PvP, weather-boosts can be a bit annoying, since you can’t get 0-3 IVs in the attack stat. It’s also pretty cool though that raid bosses are 5 levels higher when you catch them. That’s a bit of stardust and candy you can save. Then again, that’s assuming that the weather is accurate. Which it rarely is.

Well, except in the summer. But summer in Cyprus is sunny, from May to September. So it’s pretty damn likely that the weather will be accurate.