Weather information has been part of Google Earth for some time now, but the latest 5.2 update adds actual real time weather display with visual animations of rain and snow.
Google Earth (c) Google
This may not be such a useful addition if you are simply virtually travelling, but if you are planning a trip Earth has added the ability to show live weather – and not just a symbol whether it is sunny, cloud or raining. It actually integrates animations of rain and snow.
The animations are based on live weather radar information that is provided for the entire globe. The rain and snow animation varies depending on the strength of actual situation. A blizzard, for example, will show a much thicker snow fall than just a few flakes. At the time of this writing Seattle had light rain, which was barely noticeable. But Google posted images of rain preceding a hurricane that in fact showed heavy rain fall.
You can download Google Earth 5.2 via Earth’s built-in auto update or on Google’s website. The weather feature needs to be checked in Earth’s Layers to display live weather.
