See The Weather in Google Maps

There are more than a few ways to get weather information from the Internet either through the browser or through desktop applications (see recommended reading list at the end of this article). Now there is another quick way to get weather reports. Google has just added a weather layer on Google Maps that displays current temperatures and conditions around the globe, which they hope will make travel and activity planning easier.

To turn on the weather layer, hover over the widget in the upper right corner of Google Maps and select the weather layer from the list of options. Alternatively, go to this page and search for any location to know the weather.

Zoom out of the map until the map scale is about 100 Km or more for an inch, to see a map with current weather conditions. The data is pulled from weather.com and displayed as icons for different conditions like sunny, rain, cloudy and so on. You can even see cloud cover, but in the map view they are barely visible. Switch to the satellite view … ah, now it looks better.

You can also tell if it’s day or night around the world by the sun and moon icons, but you have to look very closely. At first, I though the moon was the sun, both being yellow, but then I saw the sun icon and realized which was what.

Enabling the weather layer also gives you an instant weather report for neighboring towns and cities.

Clicking on the weather icon for a particular city will open an info window with detailed data like current humidity and wind conditions, as well as a forecast for the next four days. You can also change the units of wind speed (Mph/KMph/Mps) and temperature (F/C), and enable or disable the clouds from the left-hand panel.

Recommended reading

• Add Weather Forecast to Your Google Calendar
• Earth Alerts - Not just another weather program
• MyFreeWeather, the coolest weather program
• YoWindow – Beautiful weather reports on desktop or screensaver
• Animated Weather Forecast desktop application
• Google Earth now shows real time weather
• SysMetrix: Clock, system info and weather, all-in-one
• AeroWeather changes Windows Aero color by weather
• Get weather reports in Windows taskbar with Nimi Indicator Weather
• Automatically Change Desktop Wallpaper by Weather
• WeatherSpark: Weather History, Forecast And Visualization
• WinThunder: Shortcut Launcher And Weather Program