diff --git a/assets/css/table.css b/assets/css/table.css
index 1bb8e5a..7e9c6f1 100644
--- a/assets/css/table.css
+++ b/assets/css/table.css
@@ -94,15 +94,17 @@
   background: transparent;
   border: 1px solid #c9b08a;
   color: #b09870;
-  transition: color 0.2s, border-color 0.2s;
+  transition: color 0.2s, border-color 0.2s, background-color 0.2s, filter 0.15s;
 }
 
 .utci-day-tab + .utci-day-tab {
   border-left: none;
 }
 
+/* Each tab's background is an inline per-day weather gradient, so we darken
+   the whole tab with a filter on hover (!important to beat the inline filter). */
 .utci-day-tab:hover {
-  color: #6b4f2a;
+  filter: brightness(0.93) !important;
 }
 
 .utci-day-tab.active {
diff --git a/assets/js/hooks/useForecast.js b/assets/js/hooks/useForecast.js
index f753930..d346e7c 100644
--- a/assets/js/hooks/useForecast.js
+++ b/assets/js/hooks/useForecast.js
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 //    fetchedAt   - Date the forecast data was last fetched or read from cache
 // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-import { useState, useEffect } from '../../vendor/preact-hooks.js';
+import { useState, useEffect, useRef } from '../../vendor/preact-hooks.js';
 
 const FIVE_MIN_MS    =  5 * 60 * 1000;
 const FIFTEEN_MIN_MS = 15 * 60 * 1000;
@@ -127,6 +127,11 @@ export function useForecast(location) {
   const [now,       setNow]       = useState(new Date());
   const [fetchedAt, setFetchedAt] = useState(null);
 
+  // Mirrors the latest forecast so the loader's catch block can tell whether
+  // data is already on screen, even inside stale setInterval closures.
+  const forecastRef = useRef(null);
+  useEffect(() => { forecastRef.current = forecast; }, [forecast]);
+
   // ─── FORECAST LOADER ──────────────────────────────────────────────
   //
   //  Waterfall:
@@ -134,7 +139,8 @@ export function useForecast(location) {
   //    2. Cache stale / missing  → fetch main auto API
   //    3. Main API soil is null  → try ICON for soil data
   //    4. ICON fails             → fall back to stale cache (any age)
-  //    5. No cache at all        → show error
+  //    5. No cache but data shown → keep existing data (don't show error)
+  //    6. Nothing loaded at all  → show error
   //
   async function loadForecast(loc) {
     const key = forecastCacheKey(loc);
@@ -178,8 +184,12 @@ export function useForecast(location) {
       if (staleCache) {
         setForecast(staleCache.data);
         setFetchedAt(new Date(staleCache.ts)); // old timestamp signals stale data
+      } else if (forecastRef.current) {
+        // Step 5 — no cache (e.g. an auto-refresh cleared it first), but data
+        // is already on screen. Keep showing it rather than replacing the page
+        // with a transient network error.
       } else {
-        setError(e.message); // Step 5 — nothing to fall back to
+        setError(e.message); // Step 6 — nothing loaded yet, surface the error
       }
     }
     finally { setLoading(false); }