The Google Earth weather layers “Conditions and Forecast” and “Ocean Observations” have been broken for some time. We did a post on it in July this year, but at that time it had already been broken for several months. Google has now announced that it will be dropping the layers from Google Earth on October 10th, 2016.
Dropping the layers is certainly better than leaving them broken in Google Earth, as there is currently no indication that they are not displaying the correct information. What do our readers think of this move? Was the layer useful to you? Would a KML file with similar functionality be useful? Let us know what you think in the comments.
The Google Earth “Conditions and Forecast” and “Ocean Observations” weather layers.
About Timothy Whitehead
Timothy has been using Google Earth since 2004 when it was still called Keyhole before it was renamed Google Earth in 2005 and has been a huge fan ever since. He is a programmer working for Red Wing Aerobatx and lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
I will definetly miss the temperatures as I do most of my travel planning with GE.
The cloud layer will also be missed, tough not as much.
Can anybody point me to a similar (not overloaded) KML?
Sorry if it was not clear in the post. The cloud layer is not set to be removed.
Thanks for the follow up, I still do appreciate a recommendation for a temp replacement.
i too miss temps very good when plan for trip needed
yes I miss it. Very important to me when planning oversees vacations.
Noaa has good kml feeds at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/gis/kmlpage.htm
thank you for your suggestion, but NOAA is no replacement for me as it focuses only on on CONUS (e.g.:only 4 data points in central Europe, zero in Africa) and is exclusively in F. I am looking for Europe/Asia in degree C.
Any other ideas?
I’m confused, if they’re ‘dropped’ but not ‘removed’ then what is happening
Two of the layers will be removed: “Conditions and Forecast” and “Ocean Observations”
The “Clouds” and “Radar” layers will not be removed.
The two layers to be removed have not been working for many months. The two layers that will remain still work and should continue to work.
Google are Killing Google Earth bit by bit. Arguably the best site on the whole of the internet. They have killed off ‘Traffic’ are in the process of killing Panoramio, the ‘Photos layer’ total paralysis due 4th Nov 2016, now the Weather layer these are only the layers I am aware of. Watch out GE your terminal health is in doubt.
This makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. There is no better product out than this fantastic effort. I remember touring the planet and being able to watch a video of the location from the youtube layer; gone. I thoroughly enjoyed highlighting the panoramio layer to easily see photos of the current Earth location; gone. I always checked the “conditions and forecasts” layer to easily see what it was currently like somewhere else; gone. Gone before there is anything to replace them with. There is no better way to assimilate information than by starting geographically, but now this task is much more difficult with disappearing layers. I realize mobile devices and google maps has become more of a priority, but angled viewing provides a “fly-to” realism other products cannot. When you consider the importance of mapping throughout history, this product is practically a wonder of the world. Please do not let it slide into disrepair for ANY reason!
the weather feature for Google Earth was the only reason that I have Google Earth installed on my computer in the first place I travel so temperatures where I’m going cloud cover rainfall Etc are all important to my travel and much easier to get than any other service… My suggestion fix it thank you
Agree with David!
I miss the weather information!
Please back again….
Absolutely agree! The weather layer on Google Earth was among the best features. Google Earth why are you degrading the value of this great product you had. You also did away with the flyover version in later versions of Google Earth. That’s why I stick with Google Earth 6.2. Flyover was a great way to take simulated flyovers of the Earth from a global perspective and zooming down to the neighborhood level. Google Earth should do everything it can to replace the temperature feeds. I find it hard to believe that a multi billion dollar company can’t find a solution to this problem. BRING THE GOOD STUFF BACK!!!
I used google earth because of the temperature layer.
The Clouds Layer isn’t much use if you don’t know which direction the wind is blowing.
Here is a working map with temperature. http://www.prognosen.se/metar_gmap.php
(I also miss Google Earths temp.)
I have friends and relatives all over the globe and when calling them on the phone it was always nice to talk about the weather TEMPS etc. Please find a way to bring them back.
I loved knowing the temps. We do roads trips I call ‘quest for warmth’ in Spring in Fall. I look at temps around my area. And do a road trip to the place it is showing the warmest trends. It can sometimes be a 30 degree difference in an hour drive. I don’t know of any other way of finding the temps all around me without Google Earth temp layer. First the pictures were taken away and now this. Google Earth isn’t much use any longer. Dumb move.
Here’s a nice site that shows in a color map (and you can click, and click and drag to show + move around a marker that shows exact numbers at that point) current and future (a little past a week) Temperatures, Wind + direction and speed, Humidity, and more. It also shows Clouds, Ozone, Thunderstorms (Clouds -> CAPE), Rain, Snow, Ocean Waves, Ocean Currents, Ocean Temperatures, and more.
https://www.windytv.com/
Please put weather forecast and temperature back again.
Is there another program equal or better than the weather which has been dropped?
Please put weather forecast and temperature back again
G.Earth is becoming more useless by the day. Someone in your vast organisation must be able to fix it! If not, save money and fire them!
Try https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/overlay=temp/orthographic/loc=15.420,8.156 for temperatures wind etc
I was a regular user of radar and temp features and miss them a lot
I really miss it, hopefully in a near future Google Earth could install back this very useful function ☺
Sorry to see it go. I used it to plan trips. Often winter is bad time to travel in the upper western states, and I used it to check weather forecast in towns near high passes. It was also helpful when planning hiking and camping trips.
I can still check on those places, but it is much easier having it all on the map. A kml would work fine if there is one available.
I really miss the temperature on Google Earth. I hope it this temperature layer can be added again in the future.
The GE is destroyed… the best usabel and important parts of tihis system are killed… WHY??? The weather layer and the panoramio was the most frequentated funcionts, but dilettant idiots close all of this.. its shame, its unacceptable… why this stupid dilettant idiots working now ing GE??? Its madness…
This is sad. With all the things that have been removed GE is of very little use now.
I never noticed it not working… sounds like bullshit to me. Just another stupid move from Joogle.
I also do not understand GE’s comment that weather was “not working”. I know for US & Canada that temps were always within a degree or two of local weather reports. I think GE’s plan is to phase out all useful data then suddenly “rediscover” all these features an introduce a for fee version. Feels like Google Earth “Platinum” version is in our future!
You are likely correct. pay to play
Here in Scotland I found the rainfall, with intensity, very useful indeed & really miss it for planning outdoor events. It was more reliable than anything else..
it was very usefull, very bad they removed it
My next move is to remove Bungle Earth from my computer. It is now almost useless for my purposes, I used it primarily for worldwide weather observation. Unfortunately, Google is not likely to consider what its user’s really want, only what will improve the bottom line (like every other greedy corporate entity)
Teachers found it very useful to teach about world weather.
Put the temperatures back in, however way it is possible to do it, ie KML file.
The temperature and ocean conditions are critical planning tools for outdoor activities and are used by millions of people.
The weather features were very useful and welcome, I drove a truck and needed to know what was expected where I was headed.