Storm glasses are not intended for outdoor use, so if you purchase one, keep it indoors. Below is the chart used by Fitzroy and others to read a storm glass.ĭoes a Storm Glass Work Indoors? Here Is Where You Should Place It How to Read a Storm GlassĪs we mentioned earlier, Robert Fitzroy popularized the current method to read a storm glass. Learn how to read a Galileo thermometer and how they work in our article. If you’re searching for a functional and decorative weather instrument that is reasonably accurate, we recommend a Galileo thermometer. Most home weather stations use barometric pressure to make predictions on weather conditions, over time barometric pressure has shown to be a much more accurate method of forecasting. If you’re looking for precise weather forecasts for your local area, invest in a home weather station instead. Our opinion is that storm glasses should not be relied upon as a legitimate weather instrument but more of a conversation piece for your office or coffee table. These same tests also showed to be no better than a 50/50 chance of being correct, essentially leaving the predictions up to chance. While research is slim on the storm glass (even when they were more commonly used), several studies over the years seem to suggest crystal growth is affected by temperature more than anything. Today’s versions are hermetically sealed, which would likely mean the changes would have something to do with temperature differences outside the glass. The version of the weather glass used in Fitzroy’s time was not completely sealed (typically by only a rubber cap) so pressure changes may have had some kind of effect. The most common ingredients inside these devices include ethanol, distilled water, ammonium chloride, potassium nitrate, and camphor, although different storm glasses may have different combinations of these ingredients. The truth is that there just haven’t been many studies done to figure out the process. ![]() How Does a Storm Glass Work?Įven today we do not entirely understand how these devices work, or how the crystals inside form and change shape. ![]() These days, they have become little more than a conversation piece, rather than weather predictors, and many may not even know that such a device ever existed. Storm glasses fell out of favor late in the 19th Century as mercury barometers became more affordable. The relationship between the liquid’s behavior and the corresponding weather conditions used today derive from Fitzroy’s work aboard the Beagle.įitzroy became so enamored by the storm glass that he pushed for their use throughout the UK to help early meteorologists predict the weather better and more so after an 1859 storm which took many by surprise, resulting in hundreds of deaths at sea. This is why the storm glass is often called an Admiral Fitzroy Storm Glass.Īdmiral Fitzroy was a weather enthusiast, and over the course of his expeditions, he examined the behavior of a storm glass to better understand how it worked. They would eventually rise in popularity in the mid-1800s after British Naval Officer Admiral Robert Fitzroy used them aboard the HMS Beagle, which also happened to host a young Charles Darwin doing his initial research on evolution. Most had to rely on cheaper methods of weather prediction, so sometime in the 17th Century an unknown inventor created the storm glass, but we don’t know why or how they did it. The storm glass was popularized by Admiral Robert FitzroyĪt the time that storm glasses first appeared (sometime in the 1700s), barometers-a reasonably accurate way to predict the future weather-remained relatively expensive.
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