Top Father’s Day gifts for weather enthusiasts
Whether your father figure is a casual weather fan or a full-on weather geek, we have ideas large and small, ranging from desktop gadgets to full-featured weather stations to consider for Father’s Day gifts.
"Looks like I'm going to have to mow the lawn Monday."
"Storm's coming; get inside, kids!"
Are these phrases you hear often? Looking for something weather related to gift your hero dad, father figure or caretaker this Father's Day? We've got you covered.
The AccuWeather App with Premium+
First things first. Surely your paternal parent already has the AccuWeather app and is already subscribed to AccuWeather Premium+? If not, your father figure is missing out on next-level safety and an ad-free experience with hyper-local, hyper-accurate, hyper-fast severe weather notifications and customizable widgets.
Now your dad is powered by AccuWeather's Superior Accuracy™ and can forecast your picnic or soccer game with confidence. But why stop there? Here are ideas for some weather gadgets as gifts.
The storm glass
Storm glasses are a new take on an old weather forecasting tool. They come in all shapes and sizes, including raindrops and clouds. Royal Navy Adm. Robert FitzRoy claimed they could predict the weather when he promoted them in 1860, but scientists these days say the crystals within them mostly react to temperature changes. Storm glasses won't beat the AccuWeather App, but they sure are neat to look at.
Storm Glass. (Amazon/HyperDeco)
The Galileo thermometer
A classic gift for weather aficionados, a Galileo thermometer contains bulbs with different temperature readings that float to the top of the liquid when the temperature is reached. The one shown here also includes a glass globe barometer. In that device, the level of the blue liquid varies based on changes in barometric pressure. Galileo thermometers come in many shapes and sizes, and some even come packaged with storm glasses.
Galileo Thermometer & Glass Globe Barometer. (Amazon/AcuRite)
The rainbow maker
This one's not cheap, but he's worth it. Your dad is already familiar with prisms (we're sure), which separate the colors of the rainbow from sunlight. But does he have the Serenade Dual Crystal Solar Symphony Rainbow Maker? Put this gadget in your window, and the two solar-powered, rotating crystals will make hundreds of tiny rainbows all over the kitchen all day.
The dad joke weather T-shirt
Dads love T-shirts and dad jokes, right? Why not combine the two? Amazon has several different ones featuring cheesy sayings, which will make your dad the envy of the barbeque, where he takes weather cirrusly and there's a 100 percent chance of a father forecast.
Dad joke weather T-shirts. (Amazon)
The online neighborhood weather station
If you're willing to drop a few hundred dollars on Daddio, it's time to make him your neighborhood weather hero by giving him a full-featured online weather station. We're not talking about just an outside thermometer; we're talking about something that also measures rainfall, wind, barometric pressure, solar radiation or air quality. But wait, you say, there are 749 different weather stations on Amazon? It's true. There is a lot to choose from.
Ambient WS-2902C Weather Station. (Ambient Weather)
In addition to price, consider which types of sensors you want onboard, which you can add and whether or not the station transmits its data to a private or public network on the internet. You also need to choose whether or not the station has an inside display or console.
Here's our list of the best of the best to cut through the haze:
• Ambient Weather (comparison chart, gift guide) offers the cheapest full-featured weather station with the biggest number of add-on sensors. For $189, the Ambient WS-2902 measures wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, rainfall, UV and solar radiation, all transmitted in real time to your phone and the internet. You can also add thermometer probes for the pool, garden, attic, basement and indoor and outdoor air quality monitors. It's gadget heaven for dad. They also have some Father's Day deals.
• AcuRite sells American-made weather stations for as low as $25 during their Father's Day Sale, but for the discerning weather dads, we recommend their Atlas Weather Station, which is a steal at $229. It's their most modern station, can upload readings to the internet and comes with sensors that are not typical features, including UV, solar and lightning detection.
• Weatherflow has only one product, called The Tempest (swoon!), and it's the easiest mounting and setup for a weather station that we've seen. Normally $329, it's $40 off for Father's Day. The all-in-one unit is equipped with modern ultrasonic wind and rain sensors, which makes for less maintenance. We also think it has the quickest, most modern-looking internet and app display -- but it does lack a console display. Dad fix: If you have a spare phone or iPad that you can dedicate to it, problem solved.
• Davis Weather (comparison chart) sells the American standard of weather stations and is known for providing the most reliable and longest-lasting weather stations. The Vantage Vue system measures wind, rain, temperature, humidity and barometric pressure for $350 with an old-style LCD console. However, to get that data on the internet, you'll need a $335 add-on transmitting system; at this point, you'd be better off getting their new color Wi-fi console instead, bundled for $695. For the dad where money is no option, the absolutely-top-of-the-line Vantage Pro weather station with UV and Solar costs $1,850.
• NetAtmo gets an honorable mention for sleek-looking sensors that are quite unusual. For example, the station measures carbon dioxide and sound levels out of the box. Adding wind and rain sensors, it's normally over $400 but stacking Father's Day and other promotions takes it down to $255.99.
Special dad technical note: The most accurate way to install a weather station is to have the wind equipment on the roof at 30 feet (10 meters) height and the thermometer at a height of 6 feet (2 meters) over grass in your yard. Rain gauges should be half as far from objects, trees, and buildings as they are tall. To achieve that, you'd need a station that allows you to mount sensors separately. That is impossible with the Tempest, AcuRite Atlas and Davis Vantage Vue sensors, but it is with the others.
Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts™ are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
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