Earth's atmosphere is a chaotic heat engine. Buoyancy drives convection, the Coriolis effect spirals cyclones, and a raindrop splits white light into rainbows. Explore the physics of our sky — from turbulent thermals to the optics of rain.
Weather systems from microscale to global circulation
Weather is the atmosphere computing thermodynamics in real time. Warm air rises, pressure gradients drive wind, and the planet's rotation twists everything into spirals. Predicting weather beyond two weeks is fundamentally impossible — the Lorenz attractor lurks inside every forecast model.
The physics behind atmospheric phenomena
Dig deeper into atmospheric physics
Connected atmospheric and environmental sciences
Pressure systems, fronts, convection, and atmospheric dynamics — live
Weather and meteorology simulations model the atmospheric dynamics that drive day-to-day weather patterns. Pressure-gradient and Coriolis-force simulations show how geostrophic balance produces the clockwise rotation of Northern-Hemisphere anticyclones and counter-clockwise rotation of low-pressure systems — and why trade winds blow westward in the tropics. Convective-storm simulations develop cumulus towers from solar surface heating using a Rayleigh–Bénard convection model.
Frontal-system animations show warm and cold fronts meeting and produce the precipitation bands, temperature contrasts, and wind shifts observed at weather fronts in mid-latitude cyclones. Atmospheric sounding simulations plot temperature and dew-point profiles on Skew-T/log-P diagrams and compute CAPE (convective available potential energy) — the index used by meteorologists to assess severe thunderstorm potential. These models connect fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, and rotational mechanics to real observed weather.
Atmospheric simulations are the foundation of modern meteorology. Operational weather models like ECMWF or GFS solve the same primitive equations — but on grids with billions of cells, running on supercomputers. The butterfy effect in chaotic atmospheric dynamics is why forecasts degrade beyond about two weeks. These browser simulations let you experiment with the parameters that meteorologists tune daily: convective available potential energy, moisture flux, and the Coriolis parameter.
5 questions — wind, clouds, pressure and more
Common questions about this simulation category
Every Weather & Atmosphere simulation here runs free in your browser, letting you experiment with each interactive meteorology model — atmospheric convection cells, tornado vortex dynamics, rainbow optics, and global circulation patterns — without installing anything. Adjust temperature gradients, Coriolis parameters, humidity or refractive indices, observe real-time results and learn meteorology online at your own pace, whether you are a student, educator or curious researcher. The same atmospheric physics governs real-world forecasting: convection models underpin thunderstorm prediction, vortex equations describe the formation of cyclones and tornadoes, and Mie scattering theory explains the vivid colours of sunsets and rainbows. Exploring these simulations builds the intuition needed to understand why weather forecasts become unreliable beyond roughly ten days and how climate scientists model long-term atmospheric change.