I like to keep tabs on the weather in my neighborhood but also other places I like to visit. All the weather widgets I reviewed in “Dashboard weather widget review” only display information for one location, but that’s not a problem since the Dashboard lets you add multiple copies of a widget. Watch this video and see how I create my dream weather monitoring display using multiple copies of two different widgets.
button here ↑Once you’ve added a second (or third or beyond) copy of a widget to your Dashboard, you can configure it however you like. With weather widgets, the first step is usually setting a new location. You can also change any other settings (whether or not to display forecast information, radar map, etc.) and each widget copy will remember its own settings.
Among weather widgets, the Radar in Motion widget is different in that it lets you choose multiple “favorite” maps and then will display each in turn with a configurable pause between each. This is handy since it means you can see numerous weather maps without using up more valuable Dashboard space. Still, if you need to see more than one Radar in Motion map at the same time, you can add a second copy to the Dashboard, just like any other widget.
For me, the best weather information display is a combination of these widgets:
- One Weather Underground for my neighborhood, showing Conditions tab and forecast info below
- Additional Weather Underground widgets for potential travel locations, shrunken to show only the current day’s information
- One Radar in Motion, with a few of my favorite radar and satellite maps
- Another Radar in Motion, displaying only a US Forecast map, with a much slower animation speed (e.g., 2500 ms)
Your needs are probably different. The beauty of the Mac Dashboard and the variety of available weather widgets is that you can quickly set up your Dashboard in your own style. I’d love to hear how you’ve set up your Dashboard. Just leave a comment below.
You can get more information and download these widgets by clicking on these links:
Weather Underground Dashboard Weather widget
Radar in Motion widget
And if you want to keep an eye on nearby space “weather”, check out the NASA Asteroid Watch widget.
Several days ago my original Dashboard weather widget entirely stopped showing the weather forecasts – the reverse side link to AccuWeather.com works, but the primary unit shows only the top row of the widget (location and a couple of horizontal bars with a flashing white dot) No place on the face of the widget responds to mouse clicks – what has happened and how can I fix it?
Hi Dani, can you send me a screen shot so I can see what you’re seeing? The screen shot method I show in How to take a screen shot works even when you’re viewing the Dashboard. Just email the screen shot to webmaster [at] machelpformom.com .
It also sounds like you have a different original widget than I do. Mine is powered by Yahoo and weather.com. Strange.
Hi, my weather widget also recently stopped working properly. Just like Dani’s. My weather widget shows a flashing white dot in the upper right-hand corner, just like Dani’s. I’ve restarted my mac and option-clicked on the widget to restart it. The flashing dot continues. Do you have any suggested fixes?
Hmmm, I don’t know what’s going on with yours and Dani’s weather widget. Here’s another trick you can try. Click on the widget to make it the active one, and then press the Command-R (for refresh) key combination. You should see the widget spin into then out of a swirly vortex and then hopefully be rejuvenated.
Hi,
I cannot find Dubai in the weather widget. I also searched for Larnaca, Cyprus and other cities and cannot find them to add their weather.
Please help
Thanks, George
Hi George,
Are you using the weather widget that comes on the Mac? Or another one you installed?
The weather widgets might vary from country to country, but here in the U.S. I was able to find Dubai and Larnaca in the default weather widget.
Sometimes you need to type in the name and then wait a few seconds for the widget to give you a list of possible cities to choose from. If that doesn’t help, then maybe try one of the other weather widgets.