Name: ForecastFox
Version: 0.5.8
Site: http://forecastfox.mozdev.org/
What it does: Displays local weather conditions and forecasts
Reviewer: Mitch Wagner

ForecastFox offers a quick look at the weather. (Click on image to expand.)

One of my favorite short stories of all time is called "Do You Believe In Magic?" Published in 1989 and set in the far-future world of the T!W!E!N!T!Y F!I!R!S!T C!E!N!T!U!R!Y, it's about an aging hippie who hasn't left his small, basement apartment in 30 years. He has painted all his windows black, except for one small window in his bathroom, which has a six-inch clear circle in it that he calls the "porthole." Once a day, when he wakes up and performs his morning ablutions, he takes a peek out the porthole to see what the weather is like.

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In the real world, I've been working from a home office for all but two of the last 13 years. I can go for days at a time without going outside. But I do kind of like to know what the weather is out there, for those occasions when I risk my delicate, monitor-tanned skin to the punishment of the sun and fresh air.

ForecastFox gives me all the best parts of going outdoors, without the unpleasantness of actually doing it. It lets you display current weather conditions in any of several locations on the browser, including the toolbars, navigation bar, or the status bar.

The configuration options let you enter a ZIP code to set the location you're checking. You can specify whether units of measurement should be English or metric, control whether to display icons, text or both, display current conditions and forecasts, and—for those of you who travel—display profiles of various locations and configurations.

The weather reports come from The Weather Channel.