Report updated Jun 13, 2026
News13 WBTW Weather Radar
For residents and visitors in the Myrtle Beach, Florence, and surrounding South Carolina counties.
News13 WBTW Weather Radar is a well-regarded weather app that is completely free. With a 4.7/5 rating from 3K reviews, it maintains solid user satisfaction. Users particularly appreciate forecast accuracy, though missing emergency features remains a common concern.
What is News13 WBTW Weather Radar?
News13 WBTW Weather Radar is a regional weather utility for residents of South Carolina, providing forecasts, radar, and local news content on iOS and Android.
Users hire this app for hyper-local meteorological updates that national weather services lack, serving the need for regional safety awareness during storm events.
Current Momentum
v60.1
- Maintains high regional user satisfaction.
- Ships regular stability updates.
Active Nemesis
Florida Storms
By University of Florida
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
WeatherNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
Loading...
What Are The Key Features?
Visual tracking of weather patterns.
Written updates by the StormTracker 13 team.
Upload photos/videos of local weather.
How much does it cost?
- Free access to all weather data and features
The app operates as an ad-supported utility designed to drive traffic to the broadcaster's local news brand.
Who Built It?
LIN Television
Delivering hyper-local news and real-time weather intelligence to regional US communities through established broadcast media brands.
Portfolio
13
Apps
What other apps does LIN Television make?
Explore the full LIN Television report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by LIN Television.
What do users think recently?
High confidence · 79 reviews analyzed · Based on 79 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a excited sentiment. Users appreciate forecast accuracy, but report missing emergency features.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for News13 WBTW Weather Radar?
How's The Weather Market?
Market outlook for this category
Available very soon
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
This app is a direct threat due to its massive user base and status as the default utility for severe weather tracking, directly competing for the same attention during critical weather events.
Contenders(4)
SkyPulse competes through a high-frequency update cadence and a focus on long-range forecasting that challenges the target's local utility.
This app is a strong contender because it successfully integrates community-driven content with professional meteorology, setting a high bar for local engagement.
This app competes by offering a broader, global feature set that appeals to users looking for a comprehensive, all-in-one weather utility.
As a fellow broadcast-affiliated weather app, it competes for the same regional audience by offering similar radar-centric features and severe weather alerts.
Same space(3)
It serves as a functional peer in the weather category, though it targets a different geographic market with similar data-driven features.
This app is a direct functional peer, sharing a similar broadcast-media heritage and focus on regional storm tracking.
While focused on temperature, it competes for the same 'quick-check' weather utility screen time as the target app.
Compare News13 WBTW Weather Radar against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for News13 WBTW Weather Radar
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Local blog content builds regional trust
- 4.71 iOS rating indicates high forecast satisfaction
Critical Frictions
- No emergency radio integration
- 0.02 rating gap between iOS and Android
Growth Levers
- Integrate live audio alerts to neutralize safety-oriented rivals
- Expand user-generated content into a social weather feed
Market Threats
- STORM-GPS street-level ETA tracking disrupts standard radar utility
- WCTI Storm Track 12's 250-meter resolution radar creates a parity gap
What are the next best moves?
Integrate live emergency audio alerts because rivals like Florida Storms use this to capture high-intent users → increase retention during severe weather.
Nemesis analysis shows Florida Storms uses radio integration to build trust during critical events.
Trade-off: Pause the UI refresh for the weather blog — emergency safety features have higher impact on user retention.
Upgrade radar resolution to 250-meter precision because peers like WCTI Storm Track 12 currently offer superior detail → close the competitive parity gap.
Peer analysis identifies 250-meter radar as a key differentiator for WCTI Storm Track 12.
Trade-off: Deprioritize the photo-upload social feature expansion — radar precision is a core utility requirement.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's high rating is a liability because it masks the underlying churn risk posed by safety-focused rivals that provide better emergency data than the current radar-only model.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Live FPREN radio streaming (available in Florida Storms)
- 250-meter radar resolution (available in WCTI Storm Track 12)
- Street-level ETA tracking (available in STORM-GPS)
Key Takeaways
The app maintains strong regional trust through local content, but the lack of emergency broadcast integration and high-precision radar leaves it exposed to safety-focused rivals, so the PM should prioritize emergency audio features to secure the user base.
Where Is It Heading?
Mixed Signals
The regional weather market is consolidating around high-precision, safety-first utilities that provide more than just standard radar. The subject app remains exposed due to its reliance on broadcast-style content, so the PM must pivot toward emergency-ready features to prevent user migration to specialized storm trackers.
The lack of emergency radio integration creates a safety-gap that allows rivals to capture high-intent users during severe weather events.
Consistent high ratings on iOS indicate that the core forecast accuracy remains a strong retention driver for the local audience.