Reimagine Your Taskbar: A Guide to Incorporating a Favorite Weather Icon in Windows 11

Although Windows 11 has a taskbar Weather widget, the gadget only shows the current weather. There is no way you can move that widget into the system tray area.

Would you prefer to have current and forecast weather details directly accessible from the system tray instead? If so, this is how you can add a weather icon to Windows 11’s system tray for quick access to forecasts with two third-party apps.

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How to Add a Weather Icon to the System Tray With WeatherMate

WeatherMate is a portable app that adds an icon to your system tray for displaying a location’s temperature. Clicking that system tray icon brings up a small panel that shows a weekly forecast for your set location. Note that this app will also work on older Windows platforms dating back to XP.

You can add a WeatherMate icon to the system tray as follows:

1. Open the WeatherMate download page and double-click the setup file.
2. Click Select to choose an installation for WeatherMate.
   
3. Click OK in the Browse for Folder window and select Finish.

4. Select Close to exit the setup window and launch WeatherMate.

Now you’ll see a WeatherMate temperature icon in your system tray. Double-click that icon to bring up the WeatherMate panel. That panel shows more detailed weather info for the location set.

To set your location, press the Click for options cog button on the WeatherMate panel. Then select Locations to bring up a window from which you can select many US or international locations.

Click the US or International radio button, select your state or country on the drop-down menu, and then a more specific location. Choose Add > OK to set the location.

WeatherMate will show only today’s weather info by default. However, you can change that to a weekly forecast via the app’s settings.

Click on the cog icon and Settings. Select Weekly detail on the Forecast drop-down menu within the Display tab and choose OK. WeatherMate will show a more detailed one-week forecast for your area.

If you can only see the WeatherMate in the taskbar corner overflow menu, you’ll need to set its icon to appear within the taskbar corner (known as the “system tray”). Our guide on showing and hiding Windows system tray icons provides instructions for how to set taskbar corner icons.

How to Add a Weather Icon to the System Tray With Weather Bar

Weather Bar is an alternative to WeatherMate that displays a temperature icon for a location in the system tray much the same. However, Weather Bar’s panel displays shows forecasts for up to 15 days and includes animation effects. This is how you can add a weather info icon to Windows 11’s system tray with Weather Bar.

Go to the Weather Bar website , download the setup file, then double-click it. This will automatically install and run Weather Bar.

You’ll now see a Weather Bar temperature system tray icon. Double-click that icon to view the weather panel for a preset location. That panel shows the temp, rainfall, wind, and general weather condition for each day. Plus, you can click the dots along the bottom of the panel to scroll through day forecasts.

You can set weather info for your area by clicking the hamburger menu button on the panel and selecting New location. Enter your city or town name in the search box to find and select it. If you’re in a village, that location might not be available. In which case, select the nearest city or town you can. Click Let’s go to set the new location.

Check the Weather From the System Tray in Windows 11

Why have a somewhat limited one-day weather summary widget waste space on your Windows 11 taskbar? The Weather Bar and WeatherMate apps provide more extensive weather info than Windows 11’s widget. Their direct system tray access to forecasts will also save you from searching for local weather info on websites.

Would you prefer to have current and forecast weather details directly accessible from the system tray instead? If so, this is how you can add a weather icon to Windows 11’s system tray for quick access to forecasts with two third-party apps.

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