That's actually not true in North America. Forecasts and radar images are usually the best way to tell what's going to happen in four or five hours, and the weather generally tends to be more dependable here. You can even plan (or cancel) outdoor events like picnics days in advance based on the forecast with a fair degree of accuracy. This isn't the UK, where you never know from one hour to the next whether it's going to rain or not.

Obviously you can look to the west, and if you see dark rain clouds approaching you know it's going to rain soon. But sometimes the rain will pass my area by, which I can tell by looking at a radar map.

For example, here's the one I use: Weather Radar - Exeter, ON - Environment Canada. Many has been the time that I've snuck in a decent and very dry two-hour ride in advance of a crest of thundershowers travelling across Lake Huron. "Sunny with chance of rain" is a classic UK forecast, but we don't often get that sort of thing here.