Archives For November 30, 1999

Halfway through the year, many new apps released and many abandoned. Here are 6 weather apps that are still useful in 2021.

Without searching in web browser or watching an app on mobile, there are quite a few weather apps for Linux that display weather conditions and forecast either on desktop or via system tray applet.

And here are top ones still in active development and well working in all current Ubuntu releases.

1. Gnome Weather

The Gnome Weather app is always the first one you should try, since it’s well designed and integrated with Ubuntu Gnome Desktop.

It shows weather conditions via a desktop window and integrates forecast into the Clock (date & time) menu. Sadly forecast does not work in Ubuntu 20.04 due to bug.

Version 40 displays the current temperature, feel like temperature, as well as cloudy/sunny/rainy icon for current weather. And it shows forecast both hourly and daily (2 weeks). As indicates, it collects weather data from Norwegian Meteorological Institute.

To install the app, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt install gnome-weather

For Ubuntu 20.04, forecast is not available due to libgweather bug. To workaround it:

  • either install Gnome Weather flatpak package which runs in sandbox.
  • or install patched version of libgweather from my personal PPA and restart Gnome Shell.

2. My Weather Indicator.

This is my favorite weather app from a Spain software developer. And it’s more than 10 years old that is still being maintained.

The app displays weather via both panel indicator and desktop widget. You can add 2 locations and choose weather services between OpenWeatherMap, Yahoo Weather, Wunderground.com, and WORLD WEATHER ONLINE.

It shows weather conditions including temperature, feels like, pressure, humidity, dew point, wind, and cloudiness. As well, it indicates the time of sunrise, sunset, and dawn/dusk.

The panel indicator offers forecast options for next hours and week days and forecast map. As well, a Moon Phase calendar is available for Waning Gibbous.

To install it, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run commands one by one to get it from the developer’s PPA.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao
sudo apt update
sudo apt install my-weather-indicator

3. Meteo


Meteo is a forecast application using OpenWeatherMap API. It comes with an indicator that shows weather information including temperature, pressure, wind speed and direction, sunrise & sunset.

It also provide app window with current weather and forecast for next 18 hours and next 5 days. With it, you can also check information about temperature, pressure, wind speed, clouds, and precipitation in map mode.

The software has an Ubuntu PPA. So you can open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run following commands one by one to install it.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bitseater/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install com.gitlab.bitseater.meteo

4. KWeather

This is a KDE weather app designed for plasma mobile. It however works good on Linux desktop even without KDE.

It shows the basic weather conditions as well as 10 days forecast in an adaptive app window. Which makes it different is the Dynamic mode that displays raining, shining, or snowing animation.

KWeather is available as flatpak package in flathub.org. To install it, first follow the setup guide and run bottom command in the link page.

5. OpenWeather Extension

This is an extension for Gnome that will work on Ubuntu, Fedora, and other Linux with Gnome Desktop.

It collects weather conditions from either OpenWeatherMap or darksky.net. And display basic info on top bar. By drop-down menu, you can see more details including:

  • sunrise / sunset time.
  • cloudiness, humidity, pressure, wind speed.
  • forecast (2 ~ 10 days).

The indicator position, icons, units, Geolocation provider etc are configurable via extension settings.

To install OpenWeather extension, firstly make sure chrome-gnome-shell is installed via command:

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

Then get it from extensions.gnome.org/…/openweather/

6. wttr.in

For those looking for a weather app works in command line, wttr.in is a great choice.

Just make sure curl is installed via command:

sudo apt install curl

You can then run command to get weather condition as well as forecast for current location via command:

curl wttr.in

And you may specify a location, shanghai for instance, via command:

curl wttr.in/shanghai

It’s recommended to maximize your terminal window to make the forecast table display properly.

Besides the basic info, such as, temperature, pressure, humidity, it also supports for moon phase, different units, generate PNG, and more. To get more options, run command:

curl wttr.in/:help

Final Words

There are also a few other good weather apps that I know, but they are either not maintained or not well working in my machine. If you get any other good apps, feel free to leave comment below.

Desktop Weather App for Ubuntu 16.04

Looking for a weather app for your Ubuntu desktop? Though there are a few available in Software Center, I would recommend my-weather-indicator which is developed by atareao team.

My-weather-indicator is an advanced desktop weather app for Ubuntu Unity. It displays the current weather situation and a week forecast for your location through indicator menu and/or a desktop widget.

my weather indicator and "alinone" widget

my weather indicator and “alinone” widget

one week forecast

one week forecast

It also allows you to see a map of current situation, forecast information for the next hours and days of the temperature, humidity and cloudiness.

Forecast for next hours

Forecast for next hours

The app also features:

  • support two locations
  • weather services: Yahoo, OpenWeatherMap, wunderground.com, world weather online.
  • weather display: Temperature, Pressure, Humidity, Thermal sensation, Dew point, The speed and wind direction, cloudiness, Time sunrise, sunset and twilight, Moon phase
Weather Preferences Window

Weather Preferences Window

How to Install My-weather-indicator in Ubuntu:

The weather app is available in the developer’s PPA for all current Ubuntu releases. Follow the steps below to add PPA and install the software:

1. Add PPA

Open terminal from app launcher or via Ctrl+Alt+T keys. When it opens, paste below command and hit run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao

Type in your password (no visual feedback when typing) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

atareao-ppa

2. Install the software via Synaptic Package Manager after clicked Refresh button. Or run following commands one by one in terminal:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install my-weather-indicator

Once installed, you can future update of the software alongside other system packages via the Software Updater utility.

3. (Optional) To remove the PPA, use Software & Updates -> Other Software. To remove my-weather-indicator, use Synaptic Package Manager or run command below in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove my-weather-indicator

For new changes, bugs, and requests, go to github.com/atareao/my-weather-indicator

Want to display weather on Ubuntu Desktop? Well, the best choice should be Typhoon since Stormcloud is not available in Ubuntu 13.04 due to dependency problem.

typhoon weather widget for ubuntu

Typhoon is a free and open-source weather application, which displays a HTC-like weather widget on your Ubuntu desktop. It uses Yahoo! weather service

Typhoon is a fork of discontinued Stormcloud 1.1 with some changes. It excludes the multiple locations feature because no one can live in more than one places in a specific time except electrons! It also removes ‘chameleonic background’ as it would make the app resource hungry.

Install Typhoon in Ubuntu:

To install this weather app for Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, 12.04 Precise, 12.10 Quantal and Linux Mint users. Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal. When it opens, run below commands to add the Typhoon ppa:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:apandada1/typhoon

Then update package lists and install it via:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install typhoon

Once installed, open it from Unity Dash and enjoy!

typhoon for ubuntu

Typhoon project homepage: https://launchpad.net/typhoon