The weather at a glance—at just about every glance: without a window in sight, your Mac can offer that view to the skies (without opening the Weather app or bringing any dashboard or widget into view). Find out here how to add weather information to the macOS menu bar on a Mac.
First, Reporting Nothing
When you have nothing to report for a report that is due, what do you report?
For the longest while, aviation weather reports around the world have blurted an excitedly happy “CAVOK”, of course, for the blissful times of no weather-related restrictions and anything special to note.
The U.S., though, does not use “CAVOK.”
Cloud ceiling and visibility reports “may be omitted,” however, when CAVOK conditions are met. So, when you have nothing to report, you report nothing.
Now, before we ponder how one would distinguish that from these details missing by mistake (it’s by context)… let’s add the missing weather report to the macOS menu bar:
How to Add Weather Info to the macOS Menu Bar on a Mac
Time needed: 2 minutes
To see current weather information in the menu bar (and the forecast with a single click) on a Mac:
- Open System Settings in macOS.
Here’s how: Click the Apple icon in the menu bar, for example, and select System Settings… from the menu.
- Go to the Control Center category.
- Select Show in Menu Bar for Weather (under Menu Bar Only).
- See current weather info for the current location (by default) in the menu bar.
Location control: See below for controlling which location’s weather will show in the menu bar.
Forecast: To get significant details and a forecast overview for the upcoming five hours, click in the weather area in the menu bar.
App and away: Click details or a location to open the Weather app.
How to Add Weather Info to the macOS Menu Bar on a Mac: FAQ
Can I change which location will display in the Mac menu bar?
Yes.
To specify a location other than the current Mac’s location for menu bar weather display:
- Disable location access for the Weather app; see below.
- Open Weather.
- Show the Weather sidebar.
Here’s how: Click the Show Sidebar button if you do not see your list of locations at the left. - Drag and drop the location you want to see in the menu bar to the top position in the list of locations saved in Weather.
New location: If the location is not yet in the list, use the Search field to find and open it, then click Add.
To disable location access for the Weather app:
- Open System Settings.
- Go to the Privacy & Security section.
- Select Location Services.
- Disable access for Weather.
I see no weather displayed in the menu bar even though it has been added. What can I try?
For Weather to show in the menu bar, the app needs to be allowed to run in the background.
To enable background operations for Weather on macOS:
- Open System Settings.
- Go to the General category.
- Select Login Items & Extensions.
- Enable Weather under Allow in the Background.
(How to add weather info to the menu bar on a Mac tested with macOS Sequoia 15.2; first published December 2024)