Carrot Weather update introduces a snappy chatbot based on ChatGPT
Carrot Weather, the forecasting app known for its entertaining (and often rude) weather updates, has introduced a ChatGPT-based chatbot that allows users to chat directly with the app’s irreverent character using as much profanity as possible. Version 5.10 of Carrot is released globally today on iOS, and also expands high-quality radar maps, notifications, and weather alerts to more countries.
You can ask the new Carrot chatbot for weather updates — which it will provide along with the app’s usual incendiary insults — along with more of the fun interactions we’ve come to expect from the AI of ChatGPT generations, like asking the bot to play a text adventure game or write a script for a crime drama. Users who find the chatbot’s responses too hostile can modify the Carrot AI personality to change the way it will behave, with options for Helpful, Kind, Depressed, Angry, Drunk, and more.
There are also character-based modes like Mobster, Cowboy, Pirate, and Soviet for a role-playing-like experience, and, uh, fake news if you want a bot to completely ignore your questions in favor of spouting nonsense. The chatbot offers all Carrot users five messages for free (according to our testing), with the ability to purchase more via Carrot’s Tip Jar.
Update 5.10 also rolls out push notifications to Premium account members ($4.99 per month or $19.99 per year) for government-issued weather alerts in Canada, Israel, and most of Europe, including critical alert support for life-threatening weather events and monitoring of many weather events. Locations. Lightning warnings are also now available to Premium Ultra subscribers ($9.99 per month or $39.99 per year) in Europe, Central America and the Caribbean, alerting users of nearby lightning strikes in the region. Certain notifications can be muted by heading to the Mute Filters tab within the app settings.
Carrot’s radar view, a map that displays forecast layers and tracks weather conditions such as precipitation, has been expanded across Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and most of Europe. Just like US users, anyone in these expanded regions can access the app’s Inspector feature (which requires a Premium Ultra membership) and switch the radar’s color palette between preset themes. The new areas don’t currently appear on the app’s minimap, home screen widget, or Apple Watch, but Carrot developer Brian Mueller has confirmed that the edge That these should be available “in the next month or two.”
Finally, Carrot adds support for Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) Level 3 products — a network of 160 advanced weather radars operated by NOAA’s National Weather Service — such as total storm accumulation to provide detailed tracking of severe weather in the United States. This feature falls under Carrot’s Single Radar Station mode for Premium Ultra members, which updates the app’s radar view more frequently and displays the radar at a higher resolution, giving users more detailed and timely information when monitoring storms.
