The BBC has launched a dedicated app for mobile users of its meteorological website. BBC Weather for Android 1.0.4 and BBC Weather for iPhone 1.0.1 provide smartphone users with an elegant, simple means of accessing the latest BBC Weather forecasts.

Although aimed primarily at UK users, the app can also be used abroad, with coverage extended to providing forecasts for major cities worldwide. Users can also build up a library of favourite locations, checking forecasts for each simply by swiping vertically between them.

UK users can allow the app to detect their current location on first use, or anyone can tap the settings bar and use the search tool to locate the forecast they’re looking for. The app provides a clean, elegant précis of the current day’s weather forecast, including maximum and minimum temperatures and wind speed and direction (UK users also get pollen and pollution counts).

Elegant, simple to use, yet packed with detail – the BBC Weather app is a sure-fire hit for all users, not just weather-obsessed Brits.

Tapping the day reveals an hour-by-hour forecast for UK locations, or a three-hourly forecast for the rest of the world – tap the time for more detailed information about that hour’s forecast, including predicted wind direction and speed, humidity and pressure.

Users also gain access to an extended five-day forecast at the bottom of the main screen – here UK users get hour-by-hour forecasts for the next 48 hours before reverting to three-hourly forecasts for the following three days.

Android users also gain the ability to place a widget with five-day forecast on the home screen, while Android 4.2 users can also place this to their lock screen. In addition, two Android users can swap favourite locations using Near Field Communication technology to “bump” their phones together.

There are more detailed weather apps out there, but for elegance and simplicity without sacrificing much in the way of the detail, the BBC’s new Weather app is hard to beat. BBC Weather for Android 1.0.4 and BBC Weather for iPhone 1.0.1 are both available free now.