Ask.com Search Tools: Weather

Weather Search

Summer's just around the corner here in the Northern Hemisphere and one's eyes are always on the sky with the hopes that the weather will come through and outdoor activities will be a go. Ask.com offers many search tools to help monitor the weather. Here's a look at a few of them and some of the search terms that will get you the Smart Answer at the top of the results page.

Current Conditions
Simply enter Weather and a location and the current conditions will appear at the top of the results page. For example, Weather Tampa or Weather 90210. By the way, if you're looking for info about a city name that's found in several states, simply add the state abbreviation or in some cases, a pull-down box will appear to help you disambiguate the location. For example, Weather Clinton. You can even search by county name and a major city in that specific county will appear. For example, weather Alameda County offers conditions for Oakland, CA. If you need more weather info, Ask.com comes through for you.

Detailed Weather
Entering detailed weather provides you with info like humidity, wind speed, and more. Remember, it makes no difference if you place the location before or after the phrase "detailed weather." Here's an example. It's interesting to note see with this example that a place named Chicago, WI exists and Ask.com has the info. Yes, we try to be as comprehensive as possible. :-)

Seven Day Forecast
Planning a week or so in advance for a summer outing is something that lots of us do. Of course, no forecast or weatherman is perfect (hardly), but Ask.com offers a look at the weather seven days out. Again, just enter "seven day forecast" and a specifc city or Zip Code or just forecast and city or Zip Code and your seven day look at the weather will appear as a Smart Answer at the top of the results page. Handy!

Any Way You Want It
Think 16º sounds cold? Not if it's 16º Celsius. The link on the right side of the Smart Answer offers you a choice of displaying the temperature in Fahrenheit or Celsius. Of course, weather info is not just limited to the United States. Depending on the location, you'll find some weather Smart Answers for cities and locations around the globe. For example: weather in Montreal, detailed weather Sydney, Australia or detailed weather Mumbai/Bombay, India.

Traveling? Ask Before You Pack
One of our most useful travel features for weather is our historical climate search tools. Many users are surprised to see that we can provide more general info. Let's say you're planning for a trip in the future and you want some quick info about the general climate of a place for a specific month or months. Once again, Ask.com is there for you with a Smart Answer. Simply search for climate in city or zip code and the info you need is right at the top of the results page for you. To find the info for another month, simply use the pull down box and select the desired month or specify within your search the average temperature for Paris, France in the Spring or weather in Rome in October. For the case of a search like Climate Paris, you can always "get more local" by entering the state abbreviation to find climate info for climate Paris, TX or Paris, IL climate.

Almost forgot, boaters and surfers will be interested to learn that Ask.com Smart Answers also offers some basic marine weather. For example, search for boating or surf conditions and of course a city name or Zip Code and if available the info you need is conveniently posted at the top of the results page. For example: Surf Conditions San Francisco or Boating Conditions Annapolis.

Of course we have tools like ski reports, but with schools letting out - we definitely have summer on the brain. Check these out and let us know what you think.

PS. With today's date being 6-6-06, we couldn't resist showing you that you can also use Ask.com Smart Answers to find the weather in Hell. : )

Scott Grieder
Gary Price
Ask.com Smart Answer Geeks