I've tested most of the major weather extensions available for Firefox. Here's what I found — including privacy implications, performance, and features.
Why a Weather Extension Instead of a Weather Website?
The obvious question first: why not just bookmark weather.com or accuweather.com?
Speed. Opening a tab and immediately seeing the weather is faster than navigating to a website. When you're checking the weather dozens of times a week, those seconds add up.
No ads. Weather websites are among the most ad-heavy on the internet. Extensions present data cleanly without pop-ups or video autoplay.
Integration. Good weather extensions put data where you're already looking — your new tab page, toolbar, or sidebar.
The Extensions I Tested
1. Weather & Clock Dashboard
What it does: Replaces your new tab with live weather (current conditions + 3-day forecast), world clocks, and a search bar.
Privacy: Open source (MIT), no data collection, no account required. Weather data comes from OpenWeatherMap's free API.
Performance: Fast. Caches weather data and shows the UI instantly; refreshes in background.
Best for: People who want weather + world clocks on their new tab without any bloat.
Install: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/weather-clock-dashboard/
2. WeatherFox
An older extension with a toolbar icon showing current conditions. Simpler than Weather & Clock Dashboard — no new tab replacement.
Privacy: Less clear. Closed source, some data passed to third-party servers.
Best for: Users who don't want a new tab replacement but want a toolbar indicator.
3. Weather Extension (by weatherextension.com)
Shows a browser action popup with detailed forecasts.
Privacy: Collects some usage data per their privacy policy.
Best for: Detailed 7-10 day forecasts in a popup.
4. Climacons Weather
Icon-based weather display in the toolbar. Minimal and fast.
Privacy: Uses yr.no API (Norwegian Meteorological Institute — generally trustworthy, public data).
Best for: Minimalists who want weather at a glance without clicking anything.
Privacy Deep-Dive
Weather extensions are surprisingly varied in privacy practices. Here's what to look for:
Location data: Most weather extensions need your city or coordinates. The question is: does the extension send your precise location to its servers, or does it only send a city name to the weather API?
Usage tracking: Some extensions report back anonymous usage statistics. Others report nothing.
Open source vs. closed source: With open source extensions, you can verify what the code actually does. With closed source, you're trusting the developer's privacy policy.
Weather & Clock Dashboard wins here clearly — it's MIT licensed, fully auditable, and the only data that leaves your browser is the city name sent to OpenWeatherMap.
Performance Comparison
All tests on a mid-range machine with a typical home connection:
| Extension | New Tab Load | Toolbar Icon Update |
|---|---|---|
| Weather & Clock Dashboard | ~50ms (cached) | N/A |
| WeatherFox | N/A | Background refresh |
| Weather Extension | N/A | Background refresh |
| Climacons Weather | N/A | ~2s fresh |
For new tab replacements, the cache behavior matters most. Weather & Clock Dashboard shows cached data immediately and refreshes every 30 minutes in the background, so opening a new tab is never slow.
Which One Should You Install?
If you want weather + world clocks on your new tab: Weather & Clock Dashboard
If you want a toolbar indicator only: Climacons Weather or WeatherFox
If you want maximum detail in a popup: Weather Extension
If you care deeply about privacy: Weather & Clock Dashboard (only fully open-source option I found)
The OpenWeatherMap API Note
Several of these extensions use the OpenWeatherMap API, which requires a free API key. Weather & Clock Dashboard handles this by letting you use your own key or using a reasonable default. The free tier allows 1,000 API calls per day, which is far more than any individual browser user would make.
OpenWeatherMap is a solid choice for weather data — they've been around since 2012, have global coverage, and offer a generous free tier.
Any extensions I missed? Let me know in the comments.
Top comments (0)