(WHSV) - Chief Meteorologist Aubrey Urbanowicz is sharing her favorite weather themed holiday gifts. If you know of that fellow weather geek, or someone who loves storms or snow, you might want to check these out. Links to each are attached to the title. If the title of the item is blue, that’s a link.

Storm Glass

The storm glass is a decorative supposedly “forecasting” tool, but don’t worry we don’t use these to forecast. It’s a special liquid in a decorative glass and there are may styles to choose from. It’s said that the state of the crystals can depict the weather. I wouldn’t call it accurate but it is pretty and an interesting concept. A quick search online and you can find multiple places to purchase.

Weather Stations

Which weather station is best? This is a question I get asked frequently. What’s important is proper thermometer placement. You want the thermometer 4-6′ above the ground, in the shade, and not on your home. If it’s too close to a building the thermometer will read too warm. It should be properly covered from rain or snow also.

My new favorite weather station is the Tempest Weather Station by Weather Flow. Here’s my review and how to buy:

Tempest Weather Station

Galileo Thermometer

An elegant and decorative take on a traditional thermometer. It’s also completely functional. Of course this is named after the Italian scientist, Galileo. His invention measured temperature differences based on density. You can find these is a variety of shops or they are available on Amazon.

Photo Prints

If you’re looking for that great photo gift, check out this site. Peter Forister is a Virginia storm chaser and photographer. Many of his photos are local also. You can order directly through his website. In fact we’ve shown some of his amazing photos on WHSV!

James Spann

My good friend James Spann is the Chief Meteorologist In Birmingham, Alabama. He’s a legend in the deep south and known for saying “Respect the Polygon” when referring to tornado warnings. He has recently published several books including a children’s book.

Children’s Books

Another popular weather children’s book author and Meteorologist friend of mine Janice Dean. She has written a series of books called ‘Freddy the Frogcaster.’ Anytime I have to get a gift for a kid, these are my go-to gifts. Most can be purchased from Amazon.

Etsy

Etsy is also a great place to find unique weather gifts. You don’t even have to be looking for anything specific. In the search bar just search ‘weather gift’ and see what comes up!

Apparel

Here’s a site with everything weather related that you would ever want to wear. From shirts, and socks, to ties, coffee mugs and more. Yes, I do have a pair of the radar sneakers.

Midland Weather Radio

Safety first when it comes to weather. While we don’t have severe weather as frequently as some other areas of the country, we do have severe weather. Weather radios work on a radio frequency and are not dependant on cell towers, which can fail during storms. In fact during the wildfires in California weather radios were incredibly useful for wildfire alerts and evacuations. Not only are these more reliable than cell phone alerts, but these also will work if you get a poor cell signal at your home, and you need a way to receive important, life saving weather alerts.

Waterfalls and Weather

Local photographer Larry Brown has a book packed with beautiful waterfall photos from the Shenandoah National Park. Larry also produces a calendar with stunning local photos each year but the cutoff date to order has already passed. You might want to bookmark this site for future reference.

WEATHERMAN UMBRELLA

I have one, and I love it! This is the most durable umbrella I’ve ever had. I’ve always gotten the cheap flimsy kind and I though, ‘eh what’s the difference.’ Then I got a real, good quality umbrella and yes, there’s a difference. So I actually have both sizes. The large size is the yellow on the left and wow, I’ve never had such a big umbrella before! That’s the golf umbrella.

Now my parents gave me the teal travel size umbrella (on the right) for my birthday a few years ago. It’s more compact and easy to carry around. These are durable, they can hold strong in gusty winds. The other thing I noticed is that they dry really fast.

These were created by another fellow Meteorologist and Twitter friend of mine, Rick Reichmuth.

Earth Sky Art

Artist Jay Bigham creates phenomenal original canvas art of storms, tornadoes, sunsets and more. It’s a creative take on a chaotic sky. If the original canvas is a little too expensive, check out the paper prints. The price is in Canadian dollars so it’s going to be a little less when you convert to the U.S. dollar.

LUNAR CALENDAR

Do you enjoy the different moon phases, or are you a photographer and you want to know all the moon phases of the year? Check out Earth and Sky’s full 2022 Lunar calendar! This is a great poster suitable for framing. What a great way to see every moon phase of the entire year. Earth and Sky is a great AStronomy resource and they have some cool items in their store.

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