How the scores work

TodayOrWait evaluates hourly forecast data against activity-specific rules, then searches upcoming hours for the strongest continuous window. The exact thresholds differ by activity.

Inputs

• Air temperature and apparent temperature
• Precipitation probability, rain and snowfall
• Wind speed and gusts
• Cloud cover and visibility
• Daylight
• UV and atmospheric instability where available

Activity scoring

Each activity begins with a potential score of 100. Conditions outside an ideal range reduce the score; hard limits, heavy precipitation, strong wind, poor visibility or the wrong daylight period reduce it more heavily. Multi-hour activities use a blended score that considers both the average and the weakest hour, so one bad hour cannot be hidden inside a longer window.

Today’s outdoor score

The big score on the home page is a general comfort rating for the rest of today’s daylight (or tomorrow’s, once it is dark). It looks at feels-like temperature, the chance and amount of rain or snow, wind and gusts, visibility, and hazardous weather such as freezing rain or thunderstorms. It does not average activity scores, so a snowy day that is perfect for shovelling or skiing still reads as a day to wait for most people.

Hazard and road cards

Forecast hazard, storm and road-weather cards are derived indicators. They are not official public warnings. When an official-alert provider is connected, those alerts are displayed separately and identified as official alerts.

Air quality and pollen

The environmental panel uses atmospheric model data. Pollen coverage depends on the underlying provider and may be unavailable outside supported regions. Missing values are displayed as unavailable rather than estimated.