About Rain or Shine

Who operates it

Rain or Shine is an independent dog-walking weather tool. Rain or Shine publishes and maintains these guides. It is not a veterinary clinic or weather service. The app has no accounts or app database; location preferences and the optional dog profile are stored on your device. See the privacy notice for information sent to weather and contact services.

How recommendations work

Open-Meteo supplies current, 15-minute and hourly forecast data. A deterministic rules model assesses heat, cold, precipitation, storms, wind, visibility, snow or ice, estimated pavement risk, UV and regional air quality separately. The highest assessed hazard severity controls the overall rating; a favorable factor does not cancel a serious one.

The model uses air and feels-like temperature, humidity, sun and available weather fields alongside your selected dog profile. It suggests a duration for an easy-to-moderate leash walk and compares the next 12 hours for a better window. Good, Caution, Short and Avoid describe planning guidance, not a veterinary clearance or a guarantee of safety. Thresholds are caution signals, not universal biological limits.

Heat, humidity, exercise and profile sensitivity can shorten a suggestion; wind, wetness and cold can change it in other seasons. A change in conditions or profile can change the rating. This editorial explanation does not change the recommendation algorithm.

The starting dog profile

Until you personalize it, the starting settings are a medium-sized adult dog, medium coat, normal snout, normal health-sensitivity setting and grass surface. These are assumptions, not facts we know about your dog or route. A normal sensitivity setting is not a medical assessment.

Personalize the profile for your dog. Consider the real surface and discuss individual exercise limits with your veterinarian. Saved settings stay on your device.

What the forecast cannot establish

Weather data represents a location and forecast area, not every part of a route. It cannot measure actual pavement temperature, shade, local ice, closures, traffic, fitness, exertion or individual tolerance. Pavement risk is an estimate. Check the real surface and your dog before and during a walk.

Forecast weather codes can indicate storms, but they do not establish the absence of lightning or replace official warnings. Check local weather alerts and route notices separately. City forecasts do not describe every nearby trailhead or elevation.

Air quality and missing information

Regional US AQI data is requested separately when available and can increase the rating’s caution level. It does not measure pollen, indoor air or block-level smoke. If AQI is missing, the weather recommendation can still appear without an air-quality penalty; this does not mean the air is clean. Check current local air-quality guidance if smoke or pollution is a concern.

The model has fallbacks for some missing fields: gusts can use sustained wind, snowfall can default to zero, visibility to 10 miles, and solar radiation to zero. These defaults are not observations and can miss local hazards. If required weather data cannot be loaded, the checker shows an unavailable/error state rather than establishing safe conditions.

Forecast times, caching and refresh

“Forecast retrieved” is when this app received the response, not when the provider made a new observation. The displayed date and time use the forecast location’s time zone. Current-condition and hourly forecast times describe the weather period; they are different from retrieval time.

The browser cache uses a ten-minute freshness threshold. Older cached results are labeled and can be refreshed. A failed refresh does not give old data a new retrieval time. If that time cannot be interpreted, the checker says “Update time unavailable.” Recheck before leaving and follow actual conditions if they differ.

General climate notes and articles are evergreen context, not live weather reports. Without the interactive checker, the static page does not provide a current walking recommendation.

Sources, editorial standards and corrections

Our safety guides provide direct answers, precautions, emergency signs and links to veterinary or government sources. They are general educational material. Organizational authorship and source citations do not imply veterinary review or endorsement.

To report an error, use Contact and include the page address, the statement or behavior that seems wrong, and a supporting source or relevant time and location if available. Reports can inform corrections; this is not an emergency or veterinary service. Genuine content and translation revisions are dated separately from original publication and do not imply medical review.

Methodology explanation revised September 20, 2026. This date describes the explanation, not a new algorithm or veterinary review. Read our privacy notice.