A Bright Day for Dreary Weather

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If there is a 30% or higher chance of rain, then blink!

My recipe triggers blink1 every time the phrase 30% chance of rain appears in the weatherchannel.com RSS feed. I have not been able to create a single recipe that can search for 30% chance or higher reports for the daily weather, but that is the idea I wanted to get across.

In my model, the blink1 light is replaced by a personal umbrella. When there is a relatively good chance of rain, the umbrella can be set to flash a color on the morning of a rainy day, or an hour before there is an approaching shower. The colors will serve as a reminder for the owner to bring the umbrella along with him/her. (This is something that I always forget to do, and I’m sure it is common for many other college students who have not adjusted to watching out for themselves…) Another possibility is to have the umbrella glow different colors to match the forecast for the day. For instance, if it is mostly sunny, the umbrella can glow yellow or orange. This would make the weather forecast a simple, visual experience for people who have trouble reading the numbers printed on websites.

In addition, if overcast days make people feel dreary or grey, then the colorful light will serve as a positive contrast to the situation.

It was very hard to take good pictures of this in the dark, so here is another picture! :D