For many centuries we humans have employed the conversational icebreaker of weather reading - now perhaps more aptly termed “climate change” - as something to comment on in passing, over coffee, while idling at the office, and so on. Well it just so happens that today the social aspect for Jack and Jane Weatherman gets recognized on the Web in a new release from Fox Interactive Media. It’s called FOX Weather Beta.
On its face, the new website is an interactive Google map with weather overlay surrounded by some other odds and ends. The map itself is clearly meant to be the primary appeal of the launch. Simple, straightforward, with options to view weather animations and graphical advisory notices. A look around the weather window, however, will show some other components. Among them, a set of social tools, intended to help build a network of amateur weather watchers. If you’re curious to see what they’re about, they can all be found in the site’s community section.
You can of course employ the monitoring devices of FOX Weather without investing time in the social and information-sharing sides of the site. The Google map overlay with current environmental data will likely be enough for many first-time and return visitors. The map itself operates very well. So well, in fact, that you tend almost to ignore the rest.