The Emoji Weather Map

Dark Sky provide hyper-local weather information with its iOS and Android apps. It also provides a desktop weather map which includes a seven day forecast of weather conditions around the world.

The Dark Sky Weather Map has for a while included the option to view global weather conditions on an interactive 3d globe. It now also has an option to view a weather forecast on an emoji map of the world. If you select 'emoji' from the drop-down menu at the top of the Dark Sky Map you can now view your weather predictions represented by thousands of emoji symbols.

The Dark Sky Weather Map includes a number of different weather layers which allow you to view a seven day forecast of temperature, precipitation and wind speed around the world. The 3d weather visualization uses OpenLayers with the Cesium WebGL 3d globe engine.


You can also share your location using the universal language of the emoji. What3Emojis is a revolutionary method of addressing the entire world using the only common language of the entire human race, the emoji.

With What3Emojis the Earth is divided into millions of 4m x 4m squares, each of which is randomly assigned a unique three-emoji combination. If you want to share your location with someone else all you need to do is share the three emojis assigned to that 4m x 4m square. Any similarity to What3Words is entirely intentional.

Make Your Own Animated Wind Map

Earth Nullschool is one of the greatest interactive maps of all time. It is both an awesome technical achievement and a beautiful visualization of worldwide weather. Now you too can create your own global interactive animated wind map.

WebGL Wind is a plug-in library for Mapbox GL which can create an animated mapped visualization of wind conditions around the world. The map uses wind data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. It renders this global wind data as 1 million animated points at 60fps on top of a Mapbox powered map.

The Demo Map of WebGL Wind includes controls to adjust the number of wind particles used and the speed at which they are animated on the map.

Tropical Cyclone Debbie Tracking Map

Tropical Cyclone Debbie is expected to reach North Eastern Australia about 8:00 am Tuesday. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) are warning that the storm will be the worst since Cyclone Yasi in 2011.

The BOM Tropical Cyclone Forecast Track Map shows the predicted path of Cyclone Debbie and the cyclone's predicted intensity along its path. The Bureau of Meteorology also maintains the Tropical Cyclone Advice service, which provides information on which areas are in the warning and watch zones for Tropical Cyclone Debbie. The advice page also provides information on the cyclone's position, strength and potential impact.


The Bureau of Meteorology's Satellite Viewer provides an animated view of nearly four hours worth of satellite imagery of Australia. At the moment Tropical Cyclone Debbie can clearly be seen to the north east of the country. The Satellite Viewer uses imagery from the Himawari-8 satellite operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency. You can also watch time-lapse animations of the latest Himawari-8 satellite imagery on Himawari-8 Real-time Web.


You can also track Tropical Cyclone Debbie on a number of different animated wind forecast maps. Windytv and earth both clearly show Tropical Cyclone Debbie closing in on Queensland.

Animating Wave & Swell Forecasts

The global weather map VentuSky has a new animated wave layer which visualizes the movement of waves in the oceans & seas across the world.

Ventusky's new animated wind layer shows two types of waves: swells and wind waves. Swells are shown on the map in black and wind waves are colored white. Having both swells and wind waves on the map means that it is easy to quickly spot locations where high wind waves are travelling in a different direction to swells. This means that you can identify areas with dangerous sailing conditions. Other dangerous sailing conditions can arise when the wind is blowing against the direction of the waves. Using VentuSky's wind layer with the new wave layer means that you can also quickly identify areas with these conditions on the map.

The data for the VentuSky wave layer comes from the highly precise German ICON model, which has a resolution of approximately 13 km. The German ICON data is used primarily for directing maritime transport.

It's Snowing!

The UK Met Office has issued a warning that large areas of the country will experience snow today. Which means that it's time for the #uksnow Map.

The #uksnow Map shows the location of tweets that mention snow on a map of the UK. To add snow to the map you just need to include the hashtag '#uksnow' in a Twitter message and a UK postcode. You should also add a score out of ten (where 0/10 = no snow and 10/10 = a blizzard).

Currently the map is showing snow in Scotland and the north of England. If the Met Office forecast proves correct Wales and the whole west & south of England should also light up on the map by the rest of the day.

Readers in the USA might want to check-out the National Snowfall Map, which uses data from 50,000 National Weather Service weather observers to visualize the last 24 hours of snowfall across the whole of the United States. Currently the National Snowfall Map is showing a lot of snow in the very north and down much of the west of the USA.

Mountains of Yellow Snow

Vox has created a daily snowfall map of the United States. The National Snowfall Map uses data from 50,000 National Weather Service weather observers to visualize the last 24 hours of snowfall across the whole country.

The map makes good use of Mapbox GL's extrude property to represent the amount of snowfall by height and color. The height of the extrusions is obviously exaggerated on the map to help visualize the amount of fallen snow at each location.

If you are interested in creating your own data visualizations using Mapbox GL's extrude property then you might also be interested in Ubilab's recent tutorial 3D Map Visualizations with Mapbox GL JS. This tutorial does a good job at explaining how you can add a data layer to a Mapbox GL map and how you can then use the extrude property to create a 3d visualization with that data. The tutorial includes an example map where European unemployment rates are represented by the height and color of countries on a Mapbox GL map.

Your Chances of a White Christmas

Earlier this year NOAA released a handy interactive First Snow Map which provides a nationwide guide to when you can expect to get the first snow of the winter. The map shows the date at your location when the chance of snow is at least 50%, based on historical weather records. NOAA have now released a similar looking map which shows the historical predictability of whether you can expect a white Christmas.

The Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? map uses historical weather data to provide a prediction of the chance of experiencing at least 1 inch of snow at your location on Christmas Day. The whiter the map at your location then the more chance you have of having a white Christmas. The chances of you experiencing a white Christmas are based on the last three decades of weather records at your location.

50 Years of Volcanic Eruptions & Earthquakes

The Global Volcanism Program at the Smithsonian National Museum has released a new interactive map showing over 50 years of volcanic and earthquake activity around the world. The Eruptions, Earthquakes and Emissions map also shows volcanic gas emissions (sulfur dioxide, SO2) since 1978.

As the map animation plays through the years blue dots show strong earthquakes (with a magnitude of 5 and above). Red triangles indicate the locations of volcanic eruptions. You can hover over individual markers on the map to view the date and scale of the eruption or earthquake. You can also click through to view more details on the USGS and Smithsonian Global Volcanism websites.

The map includes filters which allow you to just view earthquakes, volcanoes or sulfur dioxide emissions. If you want to see all activity since 1960 on the map at the same time then just click on the 'All Events' button at the bottom of the map,

150 Years of Hurricanes Mapped

NOAA's Historical Hurricane Tracks maps the tracks of over 6,000 historical hurricanes around the world since 1842.

It is possible to search for hurricane tracks on the map by location, name, year and by ocean basin. If you select an individual hurricane you can view its historical track on the map. The hurricane's track is color coded to show the tropical storm strength over time. You can also click through to read the hurricane's storm details and storm report.

If you select the 'All Basins' option from the Ocean Basins drop-down menu you can get a good overview about the areas around the world that are worst affected by hurricanes and tropical cyclones. This option overlays the partial tracks of over 6,000 historical hurricanes on the map. It reveals that the Pacific Ocean, west of the International Date Line, sees more tropical cyclones than any other basin. It also shows that there is almost no hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean south of the Equator.

Hurricane Matthew Maps

Having already pounded Haiti and the Bahamas Hurricane Matthew is now forecast to make a direct hit on Florida as a Category Four storm.

You can get a real sense of the scale and force of Hurricane Matthew by visiting either Windytv or the Earth Wind Map. Both of these maps provide animated wind visualizations for the whole globe. Windytv also includes a five day forecast. This enables you to watch a sped-up animation of Hurricane Matthew, tracking its predicted past over the next few days.


You can also view the predicted path of Hurricane Matthew on the National Hurricane Center website. The map provides a five day forecast of Hurricane Matthew's cone path. Weather Underground has created a similar 5 day forecast map for Hurricane Matthew showing the predicted storm category along the hurricane's predicted path.


The interactive Google Crisis Map has a three day forecast cone showing the probable center of Hurricane Matthew. Google's map also includes the locations of Red Cross shelters in Florida. You can click on the shelter markers on the map to view the shelter's address, its capacity and the current number of people seeking shelter there.

The Google Crisis Map includes a Hurricane Evacuation Routes layer. You can find out more about these evacuation routes on Florida's Division of Emergency Management website. The website also has details on Florida's current evacuation zones, with links to evacuation maps with the evacuation routes for each evacuation zone,

The First Snow Map

If you are already bored with Smoky Mountain's Fall Foliage Prediction Map and are now waiting with anticipation for the first of the winter snow then you need to check out NOAA's First Snow Map.

Using historical weather data the First Snow Map provides you with information on when can expect to see the first winter snow in your area. The map uses climate records to show when the chances of snow at your location rise to at least 50%.

To discover when the chances of your first snow rise to 50% or above just zoom in on your location. The circular markers on the map are color-coded to show the historic date by which there’s a 50% chance of snow. If you want the exact date you just need to click on the closest marker to your location.

Disclaimer: the climate can be unpredictable.

Weather Forecasts in 3D

Dark Sky provide hyper-local weather information with its iOS and Android apps. It also provides a desktop weather map which includes a seven day forecast of weather conditions around the world.

The Dark Sky Weather Map provides the option to view global weather conditions on an interactive 3d globe. The map includes a number of different weather layers which allow you to view a seven day forecast of temperature, precipitation and wind speed around the world.

The Dark Sky 3d weather visualization uses OpenLayers with the Cesium WebGL 3d globe engine. The Dark Sky Weather Map also includes an option to embed the weather map and 3d globe on your own website or blog.


You can also view animated wind direction and temperature forecasts on a 3d globe, courtesy of MeteoEarth. The MeteoEarth 3d globe provides worldwide temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, wind and air pressure forecasts using data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

Like Dark Sky, MeteoEarth also includes a 'Map Builder' tool which allows you to embed a 3d weather map on your own website. The Map Builder tool allows you to select the types of weather data and the size of map you want to embed and then provides you with the HTML code to insert the map on your website or blog.

Annual Weather Patterns

Climatemaps visualizes the weather over the course of a year around the whole world. The map animates average global monthly climate data from 1961-1990 to show you when every location in the world has its hottest, driest or wettest weather.

You can select from a range of weather layers from the drop-down menu (including precipitation, cloud cover and average temperatures). You can then view the weather data animated on the map through a whole year (you might need to let the animation play through a couple of times before the layers load completely).

The map was made with the OpenLayers 3 map library with a little help from Tippecanoe to create the map tiles. Tippecanoe is a tool for building vector map tilesets containing large amounts of location data. It is a very efficient way to visualize very large data-sets on an interactive map with minimal impact on performance.

You can view a few over maps built with the help of Tippecanoe here.

The Perfect Weather Maps

The problem with the weather is it is always too hot, too cold, too wet or too dry. The solution of course is to adopt a nomadic lifestyle and to migrate around the world using global weather data. To help you plan your annual migratory pattern Perpetual 72 shows you where in the world you can expect a perfect 72 degrees for every month of the year.

Of course 72 degrees Fahrenheit might not be your idea of the perfect temperature,  If that's the case you can use Perfect 72's weather control to set the temperature to any value that you want. Adjust the temperature and the map automatically updates to show where in the world you can expect to find your perfect temperature in every month.


Maps showing the average temperature of different locations for different times of the year can be quite handy. However you might also want to check out how cloudy it might be. Using this global cloud atlas you can find out the average amount of cloud cover that nearly every location on Earth experiences during any month of the year.

EarthEnv's Global 1-km Cloud Cover interactive map visualizes 15 years worth of cloud observations at 1 km resolution. Using the map you can select any month of the year to see how much cloud cover a location experienced over the last fifteen years.


The temperature may not be the only data that you want to consider in your attempts to find the perfect weather. In that case you could use Peter Kerpedjiev's map of annual worldwide weather data. The map uses historical climate data from Wikipedia's city 'weather boxes' to visualize how weather changes during the year around the world.

Using the Sunshine Map it is possible to view the number of hours of sunshine across the globe for every month of the year. The map also allows you to view the changing rates of precipitation, the highest & lowest temperatures and the amount of snowfall.

The map uses Jason Davies' D3 voronoi library to divide the world up into regions based on the closest city with Wikipedia climate data. This does mean that where Wikipedia only has a few cities with climate data.the Voronoi areas are quite large,


The Global Weather Comparison map allows you to compare the weather between different locations around the world. Using the map you can pick two different weather stations, from more than 14,000 locations world-wide, and compare their temperatures, rainfall and hours of sunshine.

To compare the weather between two different locations you just need to click on their markers on the map. The complete annual weather data for these two stations can then be compared in the graph below the map. You can use the map menu to directly compare the temperature, precipitation or sunshine hours between the two locations, in the graph below the map.

If you select a range in the graph at the very bottom of the page you can zoom in on the chosen range in the interactive graph directly above. This Leaflet map also displays a choropleth view of the selected weather variable. The map includes a date control which allows you to select to see a choropleth map for any day from 2005 to 2014.

The 3D Weather Globe

Earlier this week VentuSky, a new worldwide weather map, was released. The map allows you to view weather forecasts around the world and includes animated wind direction and temperature layers.

You can also view animated wind direction and temperature forecasts on a 3d globe, courtesy of MeteoEarth. The globe provides worldwide temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, wind and air pressure forecasts using data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

MeteoEarth also includes a 'Map Builder' tool which allows you to embed a 3d weather map on your own website. The Map Builder tool lets you select the types of weather data and the size of map you want to embed and then provides you with the HTML code to insert the map on your website or blog.

Animated Worldwide Weather

VentuSky is a new worldwide weather map. The application allows you to view a mapped forecast of the weather for any location in the world for over a week ahead.

One of the most impressive layers on VentuSky is the wind speed option which visualizes wind direction & speed on the map with animated streamlines. As well as wind forecasts the map allows you to view forecasts for temperature, cloud cover, precipitation, air pressure and snow cover.

You can actually view three different meteorological forcasting models on VentuSky. These are the German National Meteorological Service institution's Icon Model, NOAA's Model GFS and the Canadian Meteorological Centre's GEM Model.

VentuSky was developed completely in-house by InMeteo without the use of any third party JavaScript or mapping libraries. InMeteo also designed their own custom map tiles for the VentuSky interactive map.

The Paris Flood Map

You may have heard that the Louvre museum in Paris has been shut so that staff can save valuable works of art from potential flooding. If you want to know why these works of art are in danger then you should check out the Paris Flood Map.

In Paris the Seine has already burst its banks in several locations and the river is expected to peak today at about 20 feet above its normal levels. The problem for the Louvre is that not only is it next to the Seine but it is also in an area with a high potential risk of flooding.

The Paris Flood Map shows floodplain areas and areas most at risk from flooding. In the screenshot above the Louvre is the area marked in blue (indicating a high flood risk) just north of the Seine. You can use the interactive map to view other high flood risk areas in the Île-de-France. The map also allows you to view which important transport and other facilities are most at risk from flooding in each arrondissement.

Paris's Department of Urban Planning (IAU) has also created a video depicting a 3d mapped simulation of a flooded Paris after the Seine has burst its banks. You can view the video, Simulation 3D d'une inondation centennale à Paris, on YouTube.

Put the Wind Beneath Your Maps

You can now add animated wind layers to your maps thanks to a new API from Windyty.

Windyty is an animated wind forecast map based on NOAA wind data. It allows you to view forecast wind patterns for the next five days on top of an interactive 3d globe. The map includes a number of other animated weather layers (including cloud cover and temperature) and allows you to view animated wind patterns at a number of different altitudes.

The Windyty API allows you to add the same animated weather forecast layers to your own interactive Leaflet.js maps. You can see the API in action and some example source code for adding a Windty layer to a Leaflet map on this Hello World demo map. For now the API is free to use.

If you want to add an animated wind layer to other interactive map platforms then you should have a look at Windy-JS. With Windy-JS Esri has adapted Earth.nullschool.net's original 3d globe of animated wind into a canvas layer which can be added to a variety of mapping APIs.

Esri has created a demo map with Windy-JS, Wind Animation, which allows you to view global wind conditions animated on top of an Esri slippy map.

Annual Psychedelic Cloud Cover

Maps showing the average temperature of different locations for different times of the year can be quite handy when you are thinking about planning a vacation. However you might also want to check out how cloudy it might be. Using a new global cloud atlas you can find out the average amount of cloud cover nearly every location on Earth experiences during any month of the year.

EarthEnv's Global 1-km Cloud Cover interactive map visualizes 15 years of worth of cloud observation at 1 km resolution. Using the map you can select any month of the year to see how much cloud cover a location normally experiences based on the last fifteen years.

The map actually wasn't designed to help you decide on your next vacation destination. Its primary purpose is to explore different habitat types. The map provides a very good model for observing different biomes and eco-systems based on the frequency and dates of cloud cover. The map is therefore being used to predict species distributions based on the habitats and eco-systems revealed by the cloud cover data.

The Houston Hurricane Simulator

On September 11th 2008 the National Weather Service issued a severe warning to Houston residents,

ALL NEIGHBORHOODS, AND POSSIBLY ENTIRE COASTAL COMMUNITIES, WILL BE INUNDATED. PERSONS NOT HEEDING EVACUATION ORDERS IN SINGLE FAMILY ONE OR TWO STORY HOMES WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH.

The warning was issued because of the imminent threat of Hurricane Ike, which at the time was heading directly towards central Houston. Luckily, on September 13th, Hurricane Ike shifted course and eventually hit land a little north of the city. The storm still caused $30 billion in damage and killed at least 74 people in Texas.

The Texas Tribune and ProPublica argue that it is only a matter of time before a perfect storm will hit Houston, potentially killing thousands of residents.

Hell and High Water is a mapped visualization of the dangers Houston faces from a future hurricane. The mapped interactive simulates the likely effects of a number of potential storms on the city of Houston. Each of these simulations overlays the track of a potential storm over a satellite view of the city. These tracks are then animated to show the likely flooding events that could take place in Houston if such a storm hit the city.

The Texas Tribune argues that not enough has been done to protect the city from potential future storms. Dr. Bill Merrell, a marine scientist at Texas A&M University, believes that the city needs to build floodgates at the entrance to Galveston Bay. He predicts something will be built - four years after the next devastating hurricane.