Windows 10 and 11: Best Weather Widgets

Nowadays, with the possibility to know how is the weather. How often do you check the weather forecast while you’re using your computer? 

And the question is, why check it by opening the browser and searching sites like MSN Weather or the Google Weather app? When you can use the following best weather widgets, you can see the weather forecast directly on your taskbar or Windows desktop. 

But you have to keep in mind that “widgets” are different depending on which version of Windows you are using. Because the widgets disappeared after Windows 8 to then returned as “Interests” in Windows 10. These are once again “widgets” in Windows 11. 

Regardless of the version, the information is available from the Windows 10 taskbar and will expand to provide more data with weather notifications. 

Add Taskbar Weather Widgets on Windows 

When it comes to the taskbar, you are limited to the information sources provided by Microsoft. Or, if you prefer installing Windows 10 weather desktop gadgets instead, you can go to the next section: 

1. On Windows 10, go to the Interest section of the taskbar to open the interest’s window. 
2. Then choose the Gear icon and select Manage interests. 
   • Note: For Windows 11, select the Widget icon on the taskbar and select the Add widgets button. 
3. On the Microsoft Interests search page, search weather. This will display all the available weather interests. You can also search for RSS feeds, news, and interests of any type if you prefer. 
4. Then, scroll down the list and select the Interests you want to add. As you select them, you will see the plus icon change to a blue checkmark. 
   • Note: On Windows 11, you can search for Weather widgets in the previously mentioned window. Now add all the widgets that you want, and you will see the blue checkmark appear to the right of those. 
5. Next, you will see in the Followed Sources section, all the Interests you selected with a blue checkmark on the right. 

Now, each time you select the Interests section of the taskbar or the Microsoft Windows 11 widgets icon, you will see a pop-up window showing information from all the widgets or interests you have enabled. 

Also, Windows will display the weather conditions as a taskbar in the form of a small line of text in your Windows taskbar. Even with that window closed. 

Desktop Gadgets for Weather 

If you prefer having the weather forecast displayed on the Windows desktop instead of the taskbar, these are some of the most popular ones: 

Note: Be very careful about downloading desktop weather apps from other sites that cover this topic. Remember, many of those apps are old and links have been replaced by malware. 

1. Widget Launcher

It is available in the Microsoft Store. Keep in mind, that you should need to log into your Microsoft account before you can download the app. Once you downloaded it, you will get instant access to the weather, world clocks, a CPU monitor, and more content. 

Also, this app has more customization options than most other weather apps. So, if you like variety, then this will be the right desktop weather widget for you. 

When it is already installed.  Just select Weather from the center pane, choose color, and transparency settings, and then pick Launch Widget. 

2. 8GadgetPack 

This app is available for free. In fact, it includes a whole list of widgets like CPU utilization, an app launcher, calendar, clip boarder, etc. If you don’t want all of those installed, then pass by this app. 

If you only want to add the weather, you can leave this app as-is after installation. It includes the clock and weather on the desktop upon launch. If you do want to use any of the other desktop gadgets, right-click on the app and select Add gadgets. 

3. Weather Forecast by Accuweather 

The AccuWeather’s Chrome extension called Weather Forecast could be better for you if you spend more time looking at your browser than your desktop.

The option to set up the default location occur when you first install the extension. The current temperature and forecast for that location will display any time you open a new tab. If you want to change the location or add other locations, just select the location and change or add them. 

Note:  If you use the Edge browser or Bing as your default search page, you won’t need this add-on since that page already displays your local weather. 

It also has apps available for Android and Apple devices, such as iPhone or iPad. 

4. Lively Wallpaper 

This Windows app is primarily for creating an animated dashboard experience. And luckily, for this article, there is one wallpaper called Ripples that includes local weather. 

Setting up this wallpaper is not as straightforward as other apps. 

• You will need to sign up for a free account with OpenWeatherApp and get an API key. 
• Then customize the wallpaper and paste the API as well as the location you would like to see the weather for.