If you’re one of the estimated 34 million Americans hitting the road for a Memorial Day vacation — or many more millions planning for a summertime excursion — there’s a new free weather app for iPhone in town, and it’s perfect for golfers or anyone who prefers to spend their precious off time outdoors.

The Ourcast mobile weather app is unique in that it predicts rain and snow over the next two hours with unprecedented accuracy. Available free for the iPhone with an Android version coming soon, Ourcast forecasts weather down to the minute at any location in the continental U.S. But what makes it really fun and special is the ability for users to become part of the app’s crowdsource community via Facebook and Twitter, providing up-to-the-minute reports from wherever they are.

"Ourcast fills a critical void in the area of weather forecasting by enabling people to plan their outdoor activities with certainty,” said Mark Hohmann, co-founder and CEO of Ourcast. Ourcast users know whether rain or snow is coming over the next two hours, anywhere they want to check. A truly groundbreaking app, Ourcast is built on a new statistical approach to weather forecasting that is further refined by real-time reports from Ourcast users. This combination creates both a powerful real-time weather forecasting system and a unique social interaction with weather and with the Ourcast community.”

How does Ourcast get it done and keep golfers dry, or at least aware that there may be a shower on the way and it’s time to break out the Gore-Tex? Not to get too geeky about it, but the app incorporates a type of modeling that uses real-time radar data and weather station readings provided by 20,000 volunteers across the U.S. These forecasts are refined with real-time weather reports from Ourcast users, who can report conditions at their location with a tap of the screen. These reports display immediately on the Ourcast map view for all users to see and integrate directly into Ourcast's statistical forecasts. The strength of Ourcast increases with the size of its community, making it a truly crowdsourced application.

Fairways + Greens has put Outcast to the test over the past few weeks, and it works beautifully, with a seamless and simple interface and spot-on info. This nifty little app could put a few weathermen out of a job — which, come to think of it, would give them a little more time to tee it up.

Download it directly from Apple’s app store or from www.ourcast.com.