This Raspberry Pi-Powered Lamp Recreates the Weather on Your Desk

If you’d like to know the weather, you could look out a window, or even go outside, but seriously, who has time for that? Apps or “traditional” wall-mounted displays provide a decent alternative, but if you’d like something with a little more style, the Storm Glass lamp can show you what’s going on via fog, rain, sound, and lighting effects.

The lamp is powered by a Raspberry Pi Zero W, and polls the Weather Underground for data on current conditions. Depending on what is going on outside, it uses a tiny pump to produce a rain effect inside of the device’s transparent cylinder, and can produce “clouds” using an ultrasonic humidifier. Light effects are displayed via a NeoPixel ring.

The idea was inspired by the OpenTempescope, but adapted to use off-the-shelf parts at a much lower price. You can find more details on the build here.