🌤️ Desktop Weather Widget

A beautiful, feature-rich desktop weather widget for Windows with 15-minute precision nowcast, real-time weather updates, and bilingual support (Serbian/English).

🎯 Better than Microsoft’s built-in weather widget!

Desktop weather widget with bilingual support and 15-minute nowcast precision

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🎊 What’s New in v2.1.7

🛰️ Windows Location API Support - NEW!

Accurate location detection using your device’s GPS and Wi-Fi triangulation:

• 📍 Dual Location System: Choose between IP-based (API Location) or GPS/Wi-Fi (Windows Location)
• 🎯 Precise positioning: Uses the same location API as Windows apps - no more wrong city from IP!
• 🔄 Easy switching: Toggle via tray menu "Location Source"
• ⚠️ Smart detection: Automatically detects if Location services are disabled
• 📋 Helpful guidance: Bilingual setup instructions when needed
• ✅ Automatic fallback: Falls back to API Location if Windows Location unavailable

Example accuracy:

API Location (IP):      Belgrade (±20km from ISP location)
Windows Location:       Novi Beograd, exact coordinates

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🎊 Previous Updates

v2.1.6 - 15-Minute Nowcast

The game-changer feature that sets this widget apart:

• 🎯 Radar-like precision: See rain coming 15, 30, 45 minutes ahead
• 📍 Minutely forecasts: 8 intervals × 15min = 2-hour nowcast window
• 💧 Smart detection: Distinguishes between rain, snow, and storms
• 🔔 Proactive alerts: "Rain in 45 min (70%)" gives you time to react

Example alerts:

⚡ IMMEDIATE (0-2h):   "Rain in 45 min (70%)"
📊 SHORT-TERM (2-24h): "Rain in 6h (55%)"

🧠 4-Layer Priority System

Intelligently prioritizes weather data:

1. Current conditions → "Rain NOW!" (when actively raining)
2. Weather code validation → Confirms precipitation type
3. Minutely nowcast (0-2h) → 15-minute precision alerts
4. Hourly forecast (2-24h) → Long-term planning

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✨ Features

📍 Location Services

• 🆕 Windows Location API: GPS/Wi-Fi triangulation for accurate positioning
• Dual location system: Choose between API (IP-based) or Windows Location (GPS/Wi-Fi)
• Auto-location or manual city selection
• Smart fallback: Automatic switch if Windows Location unavailable
• Setup guidance: Bilingual instructions for enabling Location services

🌡️ Current Weather

• Real-time temperature and "feels like" temperature
• Weather description with emoji icons
• Humidity, wind speed & direction
• Atmospheric pressure
• Cloud cover percentage
• Visibility distance

🌧️ Precipitation Alerts

• 🆕 15-minute nowcast (v2.1.6): "Rain in 45 min (70%)"
• Real-time detection: Shows "Rain NOW!" when it’s actively raining
• Smart forecasting: Accurate timing for upcoming rain, snow, or storms
• Intelligent rounding: 1h 56min shows as "2h" (not "1h")
• Supports rain, snow, and thunderstorms

📊 Additional Information

• UV Index with color-coded severity
• Air Quality Index (AQI) with detailed pollutant breakdown tooltip
• 5-Day Forecast with min/max temperatures
• Hourly Forecast (12h) - click on "SATNA PROGNOZA" box to see detailed tooltip
• Sunrise & Sunset times

🎨 Customization

• Bilingual: Serbian (Latin) and English
• Auto-location or manual city selection
• Adjustable refresh intervals: 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes
• Resolution presets: From XGA (1024x768) to 8K UHD
• Click-through mode: Widget becomes transparent to clicks
• Position locking: Prevent accidental movement
• System tray integration: Minimize to tray

🛌 Advanced Features

• Sleep mode detection: Automatically refreshes after system wake
• Hibernate support: Works after full system shutdown/restore
• Network retry logic: 3 attempts with 15s delays
• Graceful degradation: Falls back elegantly if API data missing
• Startup with Windows: Optional auto-start
• Persistent settings: Remembers your preferences

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📥 Installation

Option 1: Run from Source

Install Python 3.8+ and dependencies:

pip install PyQt5 requests

Download weather_widget.pyw 1.

No API key required! Uses free Open-Meteo API 1.

Run the widget:

python weather_widget.pyw

Option 2: Download Compiled .exe (Coming Soon!)

No Python installation required - just download and run!

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🎮 Usage

Basic Controls

• Drag widget: Click and drag anywhere to move (when unlocked)
• 🔒 Lock button: Lock/unlock position
• 📍 Auto button: Toggle automatic location detection
• Search box: Manually enter city name
• ✕ Close: Hide widget (still runs in tray)

Tray Menu

Right-click the tray icon for:

• Show/Hide widget
• 📍 Location Source: Switch between API Location (IP) and Windows Location (GPS/Wi-Fi)
• Enable/disable startup with Windows
• Widget-only mode (no tray icon)
• Click-through mode
• Resolution presets
• Refresh weather
• Language selection (Serbian/English)
• Exit application

Tooltips

• Hover over Air Quality (Zagađenje): See detailed pollutant breakdown
• Click on SATNA PROGNOZA box: View 12-hour forecast table
• Hover over precipitation alert: See detailed nowcast timeline

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📍 Location Sources

📡 API Location (Default)

• Uses your IP address for location
• Quick and simple, no setup required
• City-level accuracy (~10-50 km)
• Works immediately on any device

🛰️ Windows Location (Accurate & Precise)

• Uses GPS/Wi-Fi triangulation
• Much more accurate than IP-based location (~50-500 m)
• Shows your exact neighborhood/district
• Requires Windows Location services enabled

How to Enable Windows Location:

Step 1: Enable in Widget

1. Right-click tray icon → "📍 Izvor Lokacije" / "📍 Location Source"
2. Select "Windows Lokacija (GPS/Wi-Fi)" / "Windows Location (GPS/Wi-Fi)"

Step 2: If Dialog Appears If you see "Windows Location nije dostupan" / "Windows Location Not Available":

1. Open Settings (⊞ Win + I)
2. Go to Privacy & Security → Location
3. Turn ON all 3 options:

• ✅ Location services
• ✅ Let apps access your location
• ✅ Let desktop apps access your location

1. Restart your computer (important!)
2. Try Windows Location again in widget

Step 3: Verify

• Widget should now show your precise location
• First use may take 10-30 seconds (Wi-Fi scan)
• Subsequent uses: 1-5 seconds

Requirements for Windows Location:

• ✅ Windows 10/11
• ✅ Wi-Fi adapter (for triangulation)
• ✅ Location services enabled
• ✅ Computer restart after enabling

Note: Desktop PCs without Wi-Fi adapter cannot use Windows Location. Laptops work perfectly!

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🆕 What’s New - Version History

v2.1.7 (January 10, 2026) - WINDOWS LOCATION UPDATE 🛰️

🚀 New Features

• Windows Location API support - GPS/Wi-Fi positioning for accurate location
• Dual location system - Easy switching between API (IP) and Windows Location
• Smart detection - Detects when Location services are disabled
• Bilingual setup guides - Step-by-step instructions in Serbian and English
• Automatic fallback - Gracefully falls back to API Location if needed
• Registry validation - Checks Windows Location service status

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed city name localization (Cyrillic → Latin conversion)
• Fixed wind direction translation (SR: JI → EN: SE)
• Fixed location_data dictionary for Windows Location path
• Fixed silent fallback behavior when Location disabled
• Improved error handling for location services

📊 Location Accuracy Comparison

Device Type	API Location (IP)	Windows Location
Desktop without Wi-Fi	✅ Works (ISP location)	❌ Unavailable
Desktop with Wi-Fi	✅ Works (±20km)	✅ Works (±0.5km)
Laptop	✅ Works (±20km)	✅ Works (±0.1km)
Accuracy	City-level	Street-level

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v2.1.6 (January 9, 2026) - NOWCAST UPDATE 🎊

🚀 New Features

• 15-minute precision nowcast using minutely_15 API
• 4-layer priority system for intelligent weather alerts
• Time-aware parsing: Always shows future intervals (skips past)
• Snow vs rain detection: Accurately distinguishes precipitation type
• Graceful API fallback: Works even with incomplete data

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Fixed minutely forecast time parsing (now correctly identifies future intervals)
• Fixed precipitation type detection (snow vs rain)
• Fixed edge cases at midnight rollover
• Improved sleep/wake cycle handling

🔧 Technical Improvements

• Smart interval selection (finds first future 15-min block)
• Better error recovery and logging
• Optimized API requests (only fetches needed data)
• Enhanced tooltip formatting for nowcast display

v2.1.0 (January 5, 2026)

• Full English language support
• Real-time precipitation detection ("Rain NOW!")
• Improved time calculation (proper rounding)
• Fixed translation issues
• Better API data completeness

v2.0.0 (Initial Public Release)

• Complete weather widget with all core features
• Serbian language support
• Sleep mode detection
• System tray integration

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📸 Screenshots

Main Widget - English

Main Widget - Serbian

Precipitation Alert

15-Minute Nowcast (NEW in v2.1.6!)

Coming soon - screenshot of minutely forecast tooltip

Hourly Forecast Tooltip

Air Quality Tooltip

Language Menu

Tray Menu

📍 Location Menu

🔧 Requirements

• Python: 3.8 or higher
• PyQt5: 5.15+
• requests: 2.25+
• geocoder: 1.38+ (for Windows Location support)
• No API key required! (uses free Open-Meteo API)

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📝 Configuration

Settings are automatically saved in Windows Registry under:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\WeatherWidget\Settings

Stored settings:

• Window position
• Lock status
• Click-through mode
• Language preference
• Refresh interval
• Resolution preset
• Startup mode

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🌐 API Information

This widget uses 100% free APIs with no registration required:

Open-Meteo Weather API (free, no key required)

• Current weather, forecasts, UV index
• Minutely 15-min forecasts (nowcast)
• Hourly and daily forecasts
• https://open-meteo.com

Open-Meteo Air Quality API (free)

• AQI and pollutant data
• https://open-meteo.com/en/docs/air-quality-api

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Development Setup

git clone https://github.com/malkosvetnik/desktop-weather-widget.git
cd desktop-weather-widget
pip install -r requirements.txt
python weather_widget.pyw

Testing Checklist

• Test on Windows 10 and 11
• Test sleep/wake cycle
• Test hibernate recovery
• Test network disconnection
• Test both languages (Serbian/English)
• Test all resolution presets
• Test multi-monitor setup

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🐛 Known Issues & Troubleshooting

Windows Location not working

Symptoms: Dialog appears "Windows Location nije dostupan" / "Windows Location Not Available"

Solutions:

Enable Location Services:

• Open Settings (⊞ Win + I)
• Go to Privacy & Security → Location
• Turn ON all 3 options

Restart Computer (very important!)

• Location permissions only take effect after restart

Check Wi-Fi adapter:

• Desktop PCs without Wi-Fi cannot use Windows Location
• Use API Location instead

Try manual city search:

• Click 📍 Auto button → Enter city name
• Works without location services

Widget doesn’t refresh after sleep

• Solution: Widget has built-in 30s delay after wake - this is intentional to wait for network

Nowcast shows no data

• Solution: Minutely forecasts are only available for some regions - widget gracefully falls back to hourly

High DPI scaling issues

• Solution: Use resolution presets from tray menu to match your display

Report other issues

• Open an issue: https://github.com/malkosvetnik/desktop-weather-widget/issues

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📜 License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

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🙏 Credits

• Weather data: Open-Meteo
• Icons: Unicode emoji
• Framework: PyQt5
• Developed with ❤️ and lots of ☕

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📞 Support

Found a bug or have a suggestion?

• Open an issue: https://github.com/malkosvetnik/desktop-weather-widget/issues
• Check existing issues first!
• Star ⭐ the repo if you find it useful!

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🗺️ Roadmap

Upcoming Features

• Desktop notifications (Windows toast)
• Customizable themes (dark/light/auto)
• More language options (German, French, Spanish)
• Widget size presets (small/medium/large)
• Multiple location tracking
• Weather radar integration
• Severe weather alerts

Long-term Goals

• Microsoft Store release
• macOS/Linux support
• Mobile companion app
• Smart home integration

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🌟 Why This Widget?

vs. Microsoft Weather Widget

✅ 15-minute nowcast (Microsoft: hourly only) ✅ Always visible on desktop (Microsoft: hidden in sidebar) ✅ Bilingual support (Microsoft: system language only) ✅ No telemetry (Microsoft: tracks usage) ✅ Fully customizable (Microsoft: limited options) ✅ Open source (Microsoft: closed)

vs. Rainmeter

✅ Simpler to use (no skin configuration needed) ✅ Lower resource usage (Python vs Rainmeter engine) ✅ Better precipitation alerts (smart 4-layer system) ✅ Built-in sleep mode handling (Rainmeter skins often break)

vs. Web-based Widgets

✅ No browser required (native desktop app) ✅ Works offline (shows last cached data) ✅ Lower latency (direct API calls) ✅ Privacy-focused (no tracking scripts)

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Made with ❤️ by malkosvetnik

If you find this widget useful, please consider starring ⭐ the repository!