Weather on your mobile phone, now with added fun

Monday, January 24, 2011 | 1:40 PM

We’d been wanting to build a fun, useful, app-like way to display weather information on our search results pages in the mobile browser. So we pulled together a user experience designer and team of engineers and built a new weather search results snippet that lets you actually play with the results. To try it out, just go to google.com on your iPhone or Android-powered device and search for ‘weather’.

At first glance, you’ll see content that we’d previously shown you before: current conditions and a forecast for the next few days. But by moving the slider over the next 12 hours, you can now see a detailed hour-by-hour breakdown of the changing weather conditions. As you do this, keep an eye on the temperature, wind speed and humidity and see how all these conditions are expected to trend across the day. You may also notice that the background color changes throughout the day. Of course, as you scroll further down you’ll see our regular web search results for your query.

This new weather search experience is available only in English, but we have more updates on the way. We hope you’ll enjoy using it!

Posted by Nick Fey, User Experience Designer and Michael van Ouwerkerk, Software Engineer

Labels: android, Google Mobile Search, google search, iphone, Mobile Blog

109 comments:

Marcus Jones said...: It does not work for me. iPhone 4 4.2.1.; January 24, 2011 at 1:55 PM
Csaba said...: It's colder when I use it in landscape mode. At least on the display of my phone ;)

Can you fix this?; January 24, 2011 at 1:58 PM
Unknown said...: Doesn't work on my iPhone 4 :(; January 24, 2011 at 2:10 PM
SkolVikings said...: It works for me on my iPod Touch 4. I like it!; January 24, 2011 at 2:11 PM
jezmck said...: No support for the UK? But we love our weather...; January 24, 2011 at 2:14 PM
jonesdavide said...: not showing for Android. (HTC Vision CM 7 nightly build); January 24, 2011 at 2:15 PM
Anonymous said...: Very cool! I love the slider! Works on my iPhone 4 with iOS 4.2.1; January 24, 2011 at 2:15 PM
Kuwaitiful said...: Not working here either (Android 2.2) using Dolphin Browser HD.; January 24, 2011 at 2:15 PM
HSTproductions said...: Works beautifully here in the UK for me! Very nice work!; January 24, 2011 at 2:16 PM
Lavve said...: Didn't work on my Android 2.1 device. I live in Sweden.; January 24, 2011 at 2:16 PM
Quino said...: Works in spain?
It's not working on my HTC Desire 2.2; January 24, 2011 at 2:17 PM
that guy said...: doesn't work.. t-mobile g1; January 24, 2011 at 2:17 PM
kstevica said...: Doesn't work on iPhone 3G, 4 and HTC Desire. Location: Croatia; January 24, 2011 at 2:17 PM
Unknown said...: Why don't you make this into an app for iPhone and android ??; January 24, 2011 at 2:18 PM
J said...: Didn't work for me on Android 2.2 until I turned on mobile view in the browser settings. Then it worked at treat! Nice!; January 24, 2011 at 2:18 PM
pablete said...: Could you please put some QR codes to your links!! It would be easier to just take my phone and get the link. (so lazy); January 24, 2011 at 2:19 PM
Mehmet Altıparmak said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; January 24, 2011 at 2:21 PM
Wallee Cee said...: Slick!! Enhancement request though: can you make it display "sunny" over here in Oregon til Summer hits :); January 24, 2011 at 2:21 PM
Mehmet Altıparmak said...: does not work on my ipod 2nd generation google.com.tr; January 24, 2011 at 2:22 PM
Edgar Velázquez said...: Didn't work on my HTC Evo, Android 2.2, I'm in Mexico; January 24, 2011 at 2:23 PM
Jay Khimani said...: This is simply awesome. Loving it.; January 24, 2011 at 2:25 PM
@IrishMJ said...: It works fine here in Ireland.

Make sure your Google page is not defaulting to you country specific page. Mine defaulted to google.ie and had to tell it to go to google.com by clicking the link at the bottom of the page.; January 24, 2011 at 2:25 PM
Jeff Ballweg said...: cool feature... but it took me a couple steps to get to Nz weather...
1. (my phone (iPhone 3/os4) automatically pushes me to www.google.co.nz, where it won't work)
2. tap 'Go to www.google.com' at the bottom if the page.
3. Search for 'weather'
4. in the little form field, enter "christchurch, nz" (or your city) and tap go.
5. *then* you'll get cool new feature.

would be much better if it worked from google.co.nz straight-away, but I presume this is on the way.; January 24, 2011 at 2:26 PM
Marcus Jones said...: Did not work at first (iOS 4.2.1), but now it does.; January 24, 2011 at 2:31 PM
Eric A. Litman said...: Looks great. But the #1 missing thing is accumulated precipitation:

When it's going to show, just how much snow should be expected? How much rain will there be?

This is hard data to get anywhere, particularly in a summarized view.; January 24, 2011 at 2:40 PM
JacK said...: Awesome!. Works great, I'm using Android 2.2 and I'm in Argentina.; January 24, 2011 at 2:49 PM
Sirus20x6 said...: weather and temp changes when i go between landscape and portrait. no idea which one is supposed to he correct; January 24, 2011 at 2:54 PM
Unknown said...: Needs to save multiple locations and add corresponding time.; January 24, 2011 at 2:54 PM
Psyrinx said...: Nothing on my Nokia N8!; January 24, 2011 at 2:58 PM
rherrera said...: Looks nice.. but don't we already have enough weather apps? The News and Weather app that came standard in Android already does the exact same thing. I would much rather you put those resources to something else, like pushing 2.3 to the Nexus One. There's no bigger Google fan than I am, but even I'm starting to lose faith in the system. If Google can't update its flagship device within a reasonable amount of time, what can we expect from phone manufacturers? Please Google, get it together!; January 24, 2011 at 3:00 PM
Unknown said...: BTW, For my Android (Galaxy S Vibrant), it does not work when search is performed from the Search widget. I had to type google.com directly in the browser and then do a search for "weather".; January 24, 2011 at 3:03 PM
Unknown said...: This works correctly for me (4th gen iPod Touch, Mobile Safari). As an improvement, it would be nice to have the weather service links at the bottom of the snippet (Weather Channel, Weather Underground, AccuWeather) go to the mobile-optimized versions of the respective sites. For instance, instead of going to www.wunderground.com/... link instead to m.wund.com/...; January 24, 2011 at 3:10 PM
Ian S Carr said...: Not working for me, either stock browser or dolphin. Of course, samsung has me locked at 1.6, so I never get the cool toys.; January 24, 2011 at 3:13 PM
keimanzero said...: Only thing 'new' is that it's on those damned take along w/ you phones. Weather has used this format for years. Hell my weather comes in from a spot within 10 minutes of my house. Never knew schools did weather channel's work for them. Lazy bums. Dunno how lucky they are to be working!- K&K; January 24, 2011 at 3:18 PM
keimanzero said...: Google and FB and Twitter and MS are getting too bloody complicated and all of you baka morons are too GD security conscious! Tell these mutants who compalin re security all the time this- If you dumbass mothers don't want the world to know your secrets and your business and your IDs then DUH!!! don't post it online stupid!- K&K; January 24, 2011 at 3:21 PM
Unknown said...: If its not working for you you probably have the browser agent set to desktop, change it to mobile view; January 24, 2011 at 3:34 PM
Kelly said...: @Jeff Ballweq: Unfortunately those steps didn't work for me in Auckland. Searching for 'weather' just gives me the same old Google results including Metservice. Perhaps you don't have location awareness on by default (as I do) if you had to enter "Christchurch" manually?

I hope the weather is nice for you down there!; January 24, 2011 at 3:37 PM
Stellar Drift said...: Doesn't work on HTC Desire here.; January 24, 2011 at 3:41 PM
Emperuman said...: Tried it out on iPhone 4with OS 4.2.1 and Desire Z with Android 2.2.
Nothing came up at all. I'm in Canada.; January 24, 2011 at 3:49 PM
Jerry Meyer said...: Agree with Neal - not working on G1; January 24, 2011 at 4:00 PM
Unknown said...: Works for me on HTC Vision with CM7.

Great work Google!

One note to mention that it does not work by searching weather directly from the Google search widget. But opening the browser to the Google homepage and searching weather, as described, works perfectly.; January 24, 2011 at 4:04 PM
Unknown said...: Doesn't work with Nexus on in Spain; January 24, 2011 at 4:22 PM
Manouche said...: Does not work for me in: Browser, Opera Mini, FF.

Handset: Nexus S (Android 2.3.2)
Location: UK; January 24, 2011 at 4:37 PM
Unknown said...: Works!!! Google you are the best. Galaxy Tab (Andtoid 2.2). Italy; January 24, 2011 at 4:39 PM
Unknown said...: it didn’t work at first on my iPhone 3G until I turned on the location services for Safari (duh) but now it works great. nice job!; January 24, 2011 at 4:47 PM
Unknown said...: Hack the url. Change location for US and language for EN.; January 24, 2011 at 5:41 PM
Unknown said...: Use iGoogle instead of google.com

that worked for me; January 24, 2011 at 6:05 PM
Unknown said...: I had to search for 'weather [location]' to get it to work, just typing weather (with mobile view and location turned on) just returned regular results.; January 24, 2011 at 6:13 PM
Will said...: Would it be that difficult to just provide a link? Searching for weather doesn't work. I live in Chicago...the results I get on a search are "Weather Underground", "The Weather Channel", and other local news channels.; January 24, 2011 at 7:02 PM
WestSide said...: DOES NOT WORK!!! Vibrant: Android 2.2 FIX PLZ!; January 24, 2011 at 7:15 PM
WestSide said...: IGNORE PREVIOUS COMMENT...JUST TURN "Instant (beta) on" WORKS PERFECTLY!!!; January 24, 2011 at 7:19 PM
rusho rahman said...: it worked on my Google Nexus and iphone 4. great work.

btw your location services will have to be turned on to let it work properly.; January 24, 2011 at 7:42 PM
CDL said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; January 24, 2011 at 7:51 PM
CDL said...: Cool concept. However, in my Nexus One the temperature varies depending on whether the phone is in landscape mode or in portrait mode. Maybe when I get Gingerbread in a few years my phone will not have such an eerie influence on the weather.; January 24, 2011 at 7:52 PM
Harald Felgner said...: Should the last paragraph should read: "available only in the US"? English here in Europe but no app visible ...

Even Jeff Ballweg's hint does not help :(; January 24, 2011 at 7:57 PM
Murzaki said...: iPhone 3GS - does not work on Safari or Opera. It works on Google app.; January 24, 2011 at 8:12 PM
Lost in Sand said...: Using xScope 6 on Android 2.2.

It didn't work initially at Google.com.qa (Qatar, which Google keeps defaulting to, annoyingly!). After I chose "Google.com in English" and tried again, it worked!; January 24, 2011 at 8:24 PM
Saurabh Khare said...: @peter ditto..It didn't work for me when I go to google.co.in(by default) but it works when I select google.com. Probably most of the users are having this same issue.; January 24, 2011 at 8:37 PM
Dan said...: This is really nice. I've already saved it on my iPhone homepage, and the UI is quite beautiful and surprising. I hope you bring this UI designer in on more Google projects.; January 24, 2011 at 9:28 PM
Unknown said...: Google is always on the cutting edge...cant wait for the Chrome O.S; January 24, 2011 at 10:01 PM
Unknown said...: Does not work. Iphone 4, latest firmware, UI in pt_BR, location: germany and belgium; January 24, 2011 at 10:37 PM
Knochi said...: What about BlackBerry?; January 24, 2011 at 10:54 PM
Harald Felgner said...: Doesn't work in Europe - try it within Google App's search or to reach global www.google.com somehow ...; January 24, 2011 at 11:12 PM
YOGENDRA RAI said...: Not working in my HTC Wildfire(Android2.2) :-(
I am in india.; January 24, 2011 at 11:30 PM
Rob said...: Looks nice but the standard android widget does just fine for me will not be using this sorry google.; January 25, 2011 at 1:04 AM
GavinJC said...: If you're having trouble, make sure you're on google.com (not your location specific google). Worked for me that way. iPod Touch and HTC Desire. Ireland.; January 25, 2011 at 2:57 AM
Unknown said...: Not working on my Nexus One.

Location: Spain
Android 2.2.1; January 25, 2011 at 3:48 AM
R. said...: It's working fine in Croatia if you start weather in google.com, not google.hr; January 25, 2011 at 4:28 AM
Jimmy Zöger said...: Working pretty good on my Nexus One with Gingerbread

Though I get colder weather in landscape mode.. Actually landscape mode shows weather forecast for 1 hour later. Portrait shows weather right now.; January 25, 2011 at 4:31 AM
oliverg said...: Does not Work on a nexus One (O2) in germany. I just get a result page.; January 25, 2011 at 5:41 AM
Unknown said...: Works on my HTC EVO, except I cannot type in additional cities - the text box does not engage.; January 25, 2011 at 5:55 AM
Unknown said...: Ack, have to have mobile view turned in the browser for it to work...

Wish i didnt have to choose b/t seeing full sites everywhere else and the new google weather; January 25, 2011 at 6:51 AM
Anonymous said...: Works great on my iPhone 3, both landscape and portrait! Great job!; January 25, 2011 at 7:06 AM
Unknown said...: Doesn't come up when I search the Market (weather or google weather) on my Evo 4G sprint.; January 25, 2011 at 7:10 AM
Bram Weiser said...: Hello,

After getting this news, I tried it on my Motorola Droid with Froyo 2.2, and was able to see what you described.

However, along with the slide bar, which would show a particular point in time during the next 12 hours, I'd respectfully suggest ALSO "printing" that time on the screen as well. That would clarify to any user exactly what time is being predicted with the information that's being shown.

Thank you very much!

Sincerely,
Bram Weiser; January 25, 2011 at 7:56 AM
crizznaig said...: For those saying it's colder in landscape vs portrait...

it's because in landscape the slider is giving you a longer time frame...

if you move the slider a tad to the right, it will give you the reading..

weird none the less...; January 25, 2011 at 8:10 AM
thePlayah8a said...: It was not working for me on my HTC Incredible - then I realized that my browser was set to show the normal version of web pages, and not the mobile version.

I went into the Settings for the browser... checked the 'Mobile View' box... and tried again. Then it worked perfectly.; January 25, 2011 at 8:36 AM
Unknown said...: Have you ever thought about adding a radar layer to maps? I think that would be amazing!; January 25, 2011 at 9:17 AM
Umar Faruk said...: not working in android 2.1(galaxy 5) :-(; January 25, 2011 at 9:24 AM
Taylor said...: Does not look like the new version in WebOS. Still appears to be the old one.; January 25, 2011 at 10:04 AM
Nitin Nayyar said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; January 25, 2011 at 10:20 AM
Nitin Nayyar said...: Not working for me.
Samsung Galaxy S - Android 2.2- India

Why dont you ever try releasing something for countries other than US. You'll probably know how it feels to be LEFT OUT.

Aaagghh...Even cloud printing in US.

Street view - not in india.

Navigation....again US....why why why...?

Is Google US the only place where these innovations happen.; January 25, 2011 at 10:25 AM
eadvd said...: Buenos Aires, Argentino is not listed

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Device: Motorola Defy
Android: 2.1update1; January 25, 2011 at 10:25 AM
David said...: Works on my Droidx in Washington, DC. Now if you could add something as hot as Wundermap, I'd convert.

Peace; January 25, 2011 at 10:26 AM
David said...: ...and like a previous poster, turning the screen horizontal adds three degrees.

Fight global warming, keep your screen vertical!!; January 25, 2011 at 10:31 AM
Salil said...: It works great. It will be much nicer to have it as an app / widget.; January 25, 2011 at 11:27 AM
Saurabh Sharma said...: Does not work for my nexus one, India; January 25, 2011 at 12:00 PM
Felipe Lang said...: Work like a charm in Argentina. Very cool!; January 25, 2011 at 12:04 PM
Caroff said...: Ça marche en France en choisissant Google.com en Anglais (en bas de la page). Ensuite sur IPhone, il vous suffira d'enregistrer le lien sous forme de bouton de menu.

It works fine if you choose Google.com in English at bottom of search page. Then, you just have to save this shortcut as iPhone icon in App menu !
JM from France; January 25, 2011 at 2:06 PM
kee said...: it works. sony ericsson x10 mini; January 25, 2011 at 5:21 PM
Kevin K said...: Weather Channel has the same info in an easy app, w/o the need to search. Certainly if Google wanted to write their own official app great, this is gratuitous.; January 25, 2011 at 5:54 PM
Jason Anderson said...: Why doesn't it have a Home Screen icon for the bookmark? Looks crappy with a screenshot of the app. Give it an icon and I will replace my current weather apps.; January 25, 2011 at 5:55 PM
Ashwin said...: Does not work for me.
Running 2.2.2
Location : Pune India
GPS: 18.520022,73.855677

But I know google thinks Pune is at 19.120000,72.849998 which is way off.

complaint was registered long back. ref http://goo.gl/uRipf. With all technical details.

Dont know when google will get time to fix issues other than intorducing new features.

more technical information at http://goo.gl/PRC84

May be thats the reason it does not work for many people as google got the co-ordinates wrong; January 25, 2011 at 7:36 PM
Unknown said...: WestSide said...

IGNORE PREVIOUS COMMENT...JUST TURN "Instant (beta) on" WORKS PERFECTLY!!!

This man is correct! Hey Mr Fey, you really should have mentioned that this requires instant in your post!; January 26, 2011 at 5:34 AM
Yaron Reich said...: it's Good ... but could be much better :)
with Nooly you can add minute-by-minute weather ... the exact minute it will start to rain as well as the rain intensity.
Nooly is available for 13,000,000 locations in the US
thats powerful staff ...; January 26, 2011 at 6:13 AM
Unknown said...: Works but still seems a bit rough. The most egregious problem is that the slider will move forward but, once having touched the far right end, will not move back. This is on a Nexus S.; January 26, 2011 at 7:12 AM
Unknown said...: Great feature! Works great on my HTC Desire with GINGERVillain 0.9.; January 26, 2011 at 7:44 AM
Anonymous said...: On a nexus one in south Africa cape town. Not working. Can't wait to use it. Awesome; January 26, 2011 at 8:42 AM
Unknown said...: Slider doesn't work on my Android 2.1 phone. Otherwise, like the feature.; January 26, 2011 at 1:27 PM
Unknown said...: Works great on HTC Desire (2.2); January 27, 2011 at 1:04 AM
nazia said...: its a great mobile phone i really like it and i hope that every one will like
result; January 27, 2011 at 2:45 AM
Paul said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; January 28, 2011 at 7:01 AM
Mike Walton said...: Thanks Jeff Ballweg.

Didn't work the first time, but did the second. Looks like you have to reroute to google.com at the bottom.

Mike with EVO from Vancouver, Canada.; January 28, 2011 at 3:47 PM
000 said...: Doesnt work for ***google.com.au (or my iphone 3gs); January 29, 2011 at 4:51 AM
Unknown said...: Doesn't works on my Nexus One in India.; January 29, 2011 at 5:10 AM
Admin said...: looks good.

http://www.mobilegamesarena.net; January 30, 2011 at 2:22 PM
Sir Ray said...: it's not responding on my Nexus, do i need another app or debug?!

--
conference call; January 31, 2011 at 4:16 AM
Unknown said...: Work great on Samsung Galaxy TAB. On an HTC Magic it work, but there is not a link to change from Fahrenheit to Celsius.
Very good "app-like". Well done!; February 1, 2011 at 4:57 AM
Todd said...: I just downloaded the WeatherPro app (by MeteoGroup) on my Droid Incredible. It comes with national satellite and radar loops that only take about 30 seconds each to load. It's really been cool seeing the current storm bomb in the Midwest and move east on both the satellite and radar! It also has the usual 7-day forecasts which can be broken down into detailed 3-hour reports as well! It's definitely worth the ~$3.50 (charge is in Euros as the company is based in the UK). If you do download it, you may want to first go to settings and change the units from metric to U.S. Standard and put a U.S. town into locations to load up the U.S. maps.; February 1, 2011 at 2:39 PM

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Weather on your mobile phone, now with added fun

109 comments: