There are plenty of weather apps that you can download to see tomorrow’s conditions, but where’s the fun in that? Designed by Ken Kawanmoto, this fascinating weather device elegantly simulates tomorrow’s forecast in a small translucent box.

Like a snow globe from the future, the Tempescope consists of an acrylic case, water pump, mist diffuser and a bunch of LEDs. It runs off a small Arduino-based computer and is able to sync up with your phone or PC. After receiving weather forecasts from the Internet, the Tempescope is able to simulate a range of weather conditions, including clouds, lightning, rain and sunshine.

Ken dreamed up the Tempescope, wanting to recreate tropical rain from any location. Starting out as a weekend project back in 2014, Ken developed the first prototype using shampoo bottles. Later his Tokyo-based team sought funding for the weather box on Indiegogo to bring the innovative device to the mass market. Unfortunately, the project didn’t reach its fundraising goal of US$398,000, only raising US$280,198.

But that didn’t stop Ken. You can get your hands on a Tempescope developer kit for US$199. He also released the code and schematics for his device on open source, meaning that anyone with the technical skills can make one for themselves. If you want to try your hand at one, get the schematics here.

“The reason we’re making this as a kit is because we’d like the first people to use this gadget to [take] the extra few steps to finish this off, in the spirit of our open source roots. (And it makes the cost to produce about half what it would be.)”

Aside from the fun-factor of having rain and lightning in a box in your room, the Tempescope has a number of practical uses. You can set it to mimic realtime weather today or what’s forecast for tomorrow; so think of it as a mini barometer or weatherman.

Visit the Tempescope website to find out more or watch the video below to see how the device works.

Tempescope, a box of rain in your living room

Source: http://www.tempescope.com/