Running a venue is tough, and involves plenty of planning and hard work—especially venues that depend on the weather. For golf courses, wedding destinations, and even restaurants with patios, bad weather can really take a toll on attendance.
Even though we’re powerless against mother nature, we can plan around it. Since keeping up with weather sites and sharing to guests can end up taking more time than you think, we’ve put together a few of the best weather widgets that you can add to your site to automatically pull in the latest weather forecast in your area.
There are a few things you’ll want to consider:
- How does the widget design fit within the current website theme?
- Does the weather WordPress plugin being considered require another service?
- Where will the weather be displayed?
Many of the following weather WordPress widgets and plugins have design options built in or can be easily modified to fit your website’s design. Keep in mind, some weather plugins require the World Weather Online API. Before April 2017, they provided free registered API keys. Now they require a premium subscription.
There are a variety of options and features which weather widgets offer. There are some that can only be placed in a widget area, whereas some provide a shortcode option, allowing you to place the weather widget on any page. Just some things to consider before you get started.
Take a look at these 6 best weather WordPress widgets and plugins, and I’m sure you’ll find the right one for you.
1. Astero WordPress Weather Plugin
The Astero WordPress Weather Plugin includes much of what you’ll ever want in a weather WordPress plugin. With its clean lines, multiple sizes and styles, and solid feature set, your weather widget will be looking good, even if the weather isn’t.
Some of the technical features include:
- HTML5 geolocation with IP fallback
- supports 600+ Google Fonts
- fully responsive layout
- local cache
And the design features include:
- use HTML5 video or YouTube for your background
- or use a static image or flat background
- simple or full-screen modes
- unlimited colors
As for your weather sources, you can switch between Forecast.io and Openweathermap.org, and users can also leverage the built-in city or zip code search function.
The Astero WordPress Weather Plugin includes excellent features and throws in some impressive design choices, making it a top choice for weather WordPress widgets and plugins.
2. Weather for Visual Composer
If you’re using WPBakery (formerly Visual Composer), this plugin gives you a number of easy-to-use elements to drop in to your site. With an easily customizable, modern look, this add-on is perfect for websites that need to add basic weather functionality in a stylish way.
With available support for 17 languages, an easily changeable Celsius/Fahrenheit setting, and a set of stylish icons, this plugin puts a heavy focus on getting weather data on to your site quickly without sacrificing looks. For those used to working in WPBakery, getting everything set up is as easy as dragging the element into your layout, and setting a location.
If you like how this plugin looks, but aren’t using WPBakery on your site, the publisher also has a standalone version with similar functionality.
3. Always Sunny Plugin
One of the more in-depth weather plugins available for WordPress, the Always Sunny Plugin gives a wide range of data and implementation options.
When it comes to adding this plugin to your site, you can place it in your pages in two ways: the first being as a widget, and the second as an embeddable shortcode. This mix makes it just as easy to show weather data in your sidebar as it is to drop it within a page’s content.
Beyond the basic weather measurements of temperature and weather pattern, this plugin throws a few other data points into the mix. Cloud coverage, wind patterns, and humidity levels make it a great addition for golf course websites, vacation spots, and restaurants with outdoor dining.
4. aWeather Forecast
The aWeather Forecast weather WordPress plugin displays weather conditions like no other. With its cast of animated icons, animated headers, and full color customization, this is easily one of the most charming weather widgets you’ll find.
This widget can display:
- current weather icon and temperature
- current weather conditions
- wind speed and direction
- pressure, humidity, and more
Some features include, but not limited to:
- Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin unit formats
- 18 animated icons and 4 animated headers
- select from over 700 Google Fonts
The aWeather Forecast plugin is one of the most uniquely designed weather WordPress widgets.
5. Weather WordPress Shortcode & Widget
This weather widget can be placed in both widget spaces and via shortcode. Combining this feature with the Weather WordPress Shortcode & Widget’s sleek design makes it one of the more versatile weather WordPress plugins.
Some of the great features you’ll find include:
- unlimited color selection and custom date format
- supports both Fahrenheit and Celsius
- customize weather update intervals
- display day and night temperatures
- location and GPS coordinates
- seven-day forecast option
It’s easy to see why the Weather WordPress Shortcode & Widget is a favorite among weather WordPress plugin users.
6. WP Weather Widget and WPBakery Add-on
Another great option for those building their sites with the WPBakery or Visual Composer editor. This plugin comes with a customizable element that can easily be dropped into your page template, but it also includes a widget that can be used by any WordPress build.
With all of the standard WPBakery element customization options, and 5 layouts to choose from, you can quickly adjust your weather information to fit your page. Utilizing the OpenWeatherMap API, this plugin lets you display the temperature, daily highs and lows, humidity, and more.
The Right Plugin For You
Having the forecast readily available for users and guests can be extremely useful. Not just for curiosity’s sake, but for booking events, gauging attendance, packing appropriately, and travel planning. Hopefully we gave you a good head start on your path to the perfect forecast solution.
If you don’t see exactly what you’re looking for, make sure to check out some of our other posts here on Envato Tuts+. We have excellent WordPress tutorials, eBooks, and courses. Try WordPress Plugin Development Essentials or maybe the WordPress Hacker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Some other helpful eBooks also include Useful Tricks and Techniques for WordPress and Mastering WordPress.
So what do you think? What kind of website will you be using a weather WordPress widget for? Are there any top widgets we missed? When has a weather widget helped you decide on an event? Let us know in the comments!
