The approach I use is to address the Windows updates on the day of release -- the 2nd Tuesday of each month.
During the afternoon or evening (on the second Tuesday of the month), I manually start Settings, Updates -- let them download and finish processing. When it pauses for the 'reboot' message, I shutdown the weather programs first, then press Restart Now.
When the system comes back up, I check with Settings, Updates to make sure nothing was missed (and cycle again if more updates arrive). Then start my StartWatch to start all the weather programs.
By doing this, my downtimes are usually once a month and under my control. That's not to say that Microsoft won't push an urgent fix that requires reboot, but that is a rare occurrence in my experience.
Yes, I hate it that you have little control over the update process, but.. knowing "when" they do it allows the downtime to be mostly on my terms. And yes, StartWatch is free, but the softwx.com site seems to be gone. I do have a copy of his last distribution for Startwatch if you're interested.