Before going out of town, heading to work or leaving the house, I like to know what Mother Nature is doing for the next couple of hours, the day or the week. I use my weather app several times a day.

If I’m planning a trip to the coast, I need to know if I should pack shorts and flip-flops, or long pants and a raincoat — or both. If I’m going to work, do I need to wear my Vibram-soled shoes to prevent doing the Scooby-do on slick sidewalks or can I wear my favorite pair of Vans? When taking my dog for a walk, will my baseball hat take flight in the wind?

During a recent early morning exchange with Lisa Britton and Sheila Hagar — via a Messenger chat titled “Sisterhood of the Wordsmiths” — the topic was the cold snap. By the time I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, Lisa had posted a screenshot from the WeatherBug app showing it was -19° in Baker City where she lives and Sheila posted one from The Weather Channel that showed it was 6° in Milton-Freewater. I then posted one from AccuWeather that revealed it was 9° in Hermiston.

I quickly noticed that their chosen weather apps were much more entertaining than mine. WeatherBug used a pictogram depicting the bone-chilling cold. “We got igloos!” Lisa said. While The Weather Channel featured what Sheila called “bundled up guy,” a graphic of a man wearing a beanie and ear muffs. However, AccuWeather merely had the temperature next to a “stick” sun and cloud.

While I won the “high” temperature, I also had the most boring weather app. Now I’m trying to decide if another app will satisfy my weather needs while providing a little more entertainment.