Met Office launches web weather widgets

Storm warnings through Vista and Firefox

The UK's Met Office has launched a range of web widgets allowing people to get the latest weather forecasts and storm warnings on their desktop.

The mini-applications are free to download from the Met Office website and include localised weather forecasts, severe weather warnings, marine warnings and radar images.

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The applications are available either on the Windows Vista OS or using a Firefox web browser.

On Vista the application is accessed via the operating system's side panel and it displays the latest weather for a chosen location, along with additional information such as radar or satellite images.

On Firefox the information is shown in a sidebar which the user can expand to include as many of the available options as they want.

The data automatically updates and by clicking on the information, users are taken to the Met Office website.