About halfway down my forecast page, there is a map of North Georgia, with temperatures reported by a number of official and unofficial weather stations. If you use Internet Explorer, you can put your mouse over one of the temperature readings to see additional weather information recorded at that station.

The feature is called a Mesomap, and it’s a way to see changes in the weather across an area. For example, you can see the effects of a summer afternoon thunderstorm by looking at a mesomap of the area. Locations that got rain will be cooler than the areas that did not.

Weather Underground recently added a fully interactive Mesomap feature to its website. It uses a combination of Google Maps and the information reported by official and unofficial weather stations to show temperatures, winds, humidity, dewpoint, and rainfall. For instance, if you click on the link above, you’ll see a Google map centered on Lawrenceville, along with reported temperatures and winds.

In a column to the right, you see the station names and the temperature. By mousing over a station’s name, its location is pinpointed on the map. You can also click on a point on the map, and get a balloon with the current conditions and forecast for the station point. Above the list of stations is a key to decoding the symbols on the map.

The map works just like Google Maps — you can use the vertical slider on the left to zoom in and out, the directional arrows to change the center point, and switch between map, satellite, and hybrid views. (If you haven’t tried Google Maps in the past, they are a much better alternative to Mapquest or Expedia maps). Try clicking and dragging on the map to move it around. As you zoom or move your position, the list of stations changes to conform to the area you selected.

All in all, a very cool feature.

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