Experiencing Weather on the Internet

December 22, 2013 2:04 PM

This is kind of an oddball questions, but I love things like Rainy Mood that allow you to feel like it is raining outside, and it's my go-to site for some background serenity when I'm on the computer. I like other types of weather, too, like being inside when it's snowing (wind blowing), watching a lightning storm, that kind of stuff. Are there sites that do this well, in terms of simulating weather or encouraging the kinds of feelings that surface from being in weather? I like the sounds, but also visual representations, as well.
posted by SpacemanStix to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Best answer: I find it relaxing to watch the wind map.
posted by katinka-katinka at 2:20 PM on December 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Rainy Mood is nice. If you want to get hacky and make one with your own image, try rainyday.js.
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:40 PM on December 22, 2013

Best answer: Oh and speaking of the windmap from katinka-katinka, there's also the whole earth version that recently popped up.
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:42 PM on December 22, 2013 [2 favorites]

Best answer: May not be exactly what you're interested in, but I'm a HUGE fan of flux. It changes the amount of colored light coming out of your monitor to sync up with the setting and rising of the sun. Makes surfing the net at night a lot more relaxing an experience and it's easier on the eyes, too!
posted by johnpoe50 at 3:12 PM on December 22, 2013 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I like the Relax Melodies (I get the Premium version) app for my iPhone and Mac (there are similar things like this for PCs too of course). I pick out a sound I like, which is usually one of the many rain types, layer it in with something like forest at night, afternoon birds, cars in the rain, and wrap it up with some non-background thing to hold my interest if I want to pay attention, which is often one of the many musical beats. I like that I can vary each sound's volume so that I can mimic things being just outside my window, in the room with me, as if I were sitting in a forest or meadow or city. I love how many options there are.
posted by DisreputableDog at 3:44 PM on December 22, 2013

Best answer: http://www.ipnossoft.com/project/relax-melodies/
posted by DisreputableDog at 3:50 PM on December 22, 2013

Best answer: TexasHighDef aka Yogaduke is a YouTube channel with a lot of weather/ambient videos.

* Waterfall rapids (60min)
* Cars Driving in Rain (2h)
* Stormy Sea Waves (60m)

There's a lot more to find in related videos. Don't know if this is in line with what you're looking for, exactly, but you can also find limited numbers of longer videos of e.g. cycling in wind and/or rain or boats going through storms.
posted by dhartung at 4:14 PM on December 22, 2013 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Calm.com. Unfortunately, the site apparently doesn't work on mobile browsers but it looks like there's a free app.
posted by toastedbeagle at 8:06 PM on December 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It's just sound, but with lots of nice options: Noisli
posted by heliostatic at 9:42 PM on December 22, 2013