The hourly weather forecast shows you the weather hour by hour, instead of day by day. It tells you the temperature for every hour, when the rain will start and stop, how the wind will change, and how humid it will feel. If you want to know whether to go out in the morning or wait until the afternoon, whether the rain will stop by evening, or which hour will be the hottest, the hourly forecast is the tool to use. The daily forecast tells you what kind of day it will be. The hourly forecast tells you exactly when.
On the hourly forecast page you will see two things: a strip of hourly cards and a temperature curve. Each hourly card shows one hour with its temperature, humidity, weather symbol and rain in millimetres. The temperature curve joins those hours into a line you can read at a glance: it rises through the morning, peaks in the early afternoon, and falls again in the evening. The shape of the curve tells you the story of the day in one look. A flat curve means the temperature barely changes. A steep curve means a cold morning and a hot afternoon, and you should dress for both.
How to Read the Hourly Rain
Rain in the hourly forecast is shown in millimetres for each hour, which is far more useful than a daily percentage. A day that shows 5 mm of rain in total might have all 5 mm in a single hour — one heavy shower — with the rest of the day dry. Or it might have 0.5 mm spread across ten hours — a light drizzle all day. The hourly view shows you which one it is, so you can plan around the wet hours instead of cancelling the whole day. If the rain is forecast from 2 pm to 4 pm, do your outdoor work in the morning. If the rain stops at 6 pm, plan the evening outside.
The same logic applies to temperature. The hottest hour of the day is usually between 1 pm and 3 pm, and the coldest hour is just before sunrise, around 5 am to 6 am. In summer in Pakistan, the difference between the coldest and hottest hour can be fifteen degrees or more. The hourly forecast lets you pick the most comfortable hour: go out early in the morning for exercise, stay indoors during the hottest hours, and go out again in the evening when the temperature falls. In winter, the pattern reverses: the morning is the coldest part of the day, and the afternoon is the most pleasant time to be outside.
Wind and Humidity by the Hour
Wind and humidity also change through the day, and the hourly forecast shows both. Wind is usually calm in the early morning and picks up in the afternoon. A windy afternoon can make a hot day feel cooler, but it can also make outdoor work difficult and blow dust into the air. Humidity is usually highest in the early morning and lowest in the afternoon, when the sun has warmed the air. High humidity in the morning can make the air feel damp and heavy, especially in the monsoon season, while low humidity in the afternoon makes the heat feel drier and sharper.
Feels-like temperature ties all of this together. It adjusts the real temperature for wind and humidity, and it is the number that tells you how the hour will actually feel. On a humid summer afternoon, 35 degrees can feel like 42. On a windy winter morning, 10 degrees can feel like 5. When you choose what to wear for a particular hour, dress for the feels-like temperature of that hour, not the daily maximum.
When to Use the Hourly Forecast
Use the hourly forecast whenever the timing matters more than the day. Going for a morning walk, planning a journey, scheduling outdoor work, choosing the best hour for a cricket match, or deciding when to hang the laundry — all of these are hourly decisions. The daily forecast can tell you it will rain today, but only the hourly forecast can tell you whether to go out at 9 am or wait until 2 pm. Check the hourly forecast in the morning before you leave home, and check it again during the day if your plans change, because the forecast updates several times a day with fresh data.
For the bigger picture, combine the hourly forecast with the 10-day forecast: use the 10-day forecast to pick the best day, and the hourly forecast to pick the best hour. And if you want to understand how rain forecasts are made and what rain in millimetres really means, read our guide: is it going to rain tomorrow?
