Forecast is bright for weather app RadarCast

• New weather app RadarCast offers up-to-the-minute updates
• Notification for hurricanes%2C storms%2C tornadoes warns consumers
• %22FutureCast%22 displays weather patterns on maps

SAN FRANCISCO -- The forecast looks promising for RadarCast, a new iPhone app that its developer WeatherSphere refers to as a personal weatherman in your pocket.

The app, which debuted today, offers accurate up-to-the-minute weather updates, predictions and alerts for key events. Notifications for critical weather events -- including storms, hurricanes, tornadoes and lightning -- are "pushed" to a consumer's smartphone as they draw closer.

A "FutureCasts" feature displays weather patterns on maps so you can see how the weather will change where you are or where you are headed, according to WeatherSphere.

The back story for RadarCast is as striking as some of the lightning storms it predicts: Company founder Raghav Gupta was rousted in his hotel room in New York repeatedly in February 2011 by smartphone notifications.

He was being notified that computer servers were overloaded because thousands of users every minute were downloading a weather app he had released as an experiment. Apparently, a thicket of tornadoes were touching down in the Midwest at that moment.

Gupta got another slew of reminders in the lead-up to the deadly tornado that killed 116 people in Joplin, Mo., in May 2011.