How to check weather on laptop without internet
 

My frather recently purchased a laptop because he does a lot of traveling around the states and he wanted to get a map. He also needs to check on a lot of weather, and obviously, not all of the places he will goto will have access to Wifi or ethernet. So, is there an alternative to downloading programs on the phone for the weather?

I've heard about using GPS tracking systems to go with the laptop and all sorts of fancy stuff, but I dont' know anything about them. What is a way to check the weather without resorting to weather.com?

unless you have meterological equipment hooked up to it (it's available but pricey) the only way to find out what the weather is like on a laptop is to check online.

*not trying to be a smartass* I don't really know of an alternative that will work on a laptop, but newspapers are pretty inexpensive and easy to come by.

*trying to be a smartass* You could also hold it outside for an extended amount of time and use it as a relative weather gauge. If it's wet, it's probably raining.

Seriously though, the Internet is probably the only way to go here. I have heard of cell phone providers that will let you "dial-up" through your data enabled cell phone, but I don't know much of antyhing at all about that stuff.

Any chance this is for road conditions? I've always had good luck calling state highway departments or the highway patrol, both of which will provide road-related conditions beyond the weather itself.

Otherwise get him a portable NOAA/NWR radio. It's automatic and free (besides the radio). Here's a national coverage map:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/usframes.html

Drill up to learn more about the service.

Some of the radio's are PC compatible to handle programming, alerts, or even integration with mapping software. Here's a simple one at Radio Shack:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...ct%5Fid=12-258

If you want one that works with a GPS solution best ask the software provider. I've never used the systems together so it's out of my area.

*grin* I was gonna say that myself, but decided not to be a smartass for once. Good to see my fellow TFPers will pick up the ball when I drop it ;)