Did you know the Weather Channel App has a setting to tell you whether its a good time for a run? They call this the “Run Score”.

Since I live in Buffalo, NY and run a lot of my runs early in the morning, I rely on the Weather Channel app to tell me if I should roll out of bed or snuggle under the covers.

If it’s snowing, but not a blizzard I have no trouble getting out of bed. If it’s cold and rainy, that’s a nope. The Weather Channel has an App that has a GORun index. It’s a scale from 1-10…the higher the number the better the running conditions.

Once you’ve downloaded the App, scroll down to the Health and Activities section and you’ll see Running.

When you click on the arrow, you’ll see an hour by hour prediction of whether it will be a good time for a run.

Scroll down from that and you’ll see the science behind the numbers.

The index is based on temperature, humidity, precipitation- whether it will rain or snow and the wind.

You can look at the predictions for tomorrow and for the next week.

If you are flexible with your running days, you can switch runs around if you need to squeeze a shorter one between rain or switch to a different day all together.

The predictions can help you with your clothing choices as well.

I dress differently for a 40° run with over-head clouds and a chance of rain with a real feel of 32°, vs a 40° day with no wind and sunshine.

What is a Good Time to Run

In the app, the index tells you why they come to the conclusions of whether it is a good time to run or not.

Temperature

With the temperature, they say higher temps use more energy to cool you down and you’ll lose fluids quicker. Lower temps covert your body’s fuel from less fat consumption to more carb consumption…your glycogen stores.

Now, I admit that I have never seen this idea before, and I am interested in exploring it more for another post.

Humidity

Humidity plays a role in how your body behaves as you run. A higher humidity will prevent sweat from evaporating, and makes your heart and lungs work harder to cool you off.

This is why I recommend in a high humidity running situation you slow down, you drink water, you keep an eye on your heart rate and you freakin stop if your feeling light headed or like your going to pass out.

If the humidity is really high, consider that a bad running condition and DON’T GO. Heat stroke is a real thing and it is dangerous.

Precipitation

Precipitation, whether it is rainy or snowy, can be a good thing or a bad thing.

I don’t mind running in the snow and I have yet to meet a low enough temperature that I won’t run if its not a blizzard.

I don’t generally run in the rain if it is raining before I go, but if it starts to rain while I’m on the road I usually welcome it if the day is warm enough.

The Weather Channel GORun index things the same. The App shows that a warmer day with some rain can enhance your performance because of the cooling effect.

On cold days, though, moisture or precip can lower your bodies core temperature which can be dangerous.

Wind

Wind is the final piece to the puzzle. A cool breeze can help your body evaporate sweat, which in turn helps your body maintain core temps.

This is what I want to see when I look at the App:

A phenomenal running week is in store, and I couldn’t be happier. While we all know weather conditions can change and predictions are followed at our own risk (or usually our disappointment), having a handy tool like this can make planning our running day a little easier.

Where’s the App

You can download the app for the iPhone in the app store, or on Google Play for Android users.