The sound outside, right now
Not a recording. Your live weather, as sound.
Where are you listening from?
Only your location rounded to about 1 km (2 decimals) is sent, to find the nearest weather station.
Share your location and we'll tell you, in one line, what the sky is doing outside.
Baby mode · sleep timertimer off
Adds a soft pink-noise floor under the weather. The weather stays as it is; the timer is set to 60 minutes.
Some browsers stop the sound when the screen turns off.
How the sound is made
Observation numbers → a sound table
With your permission we find the nearest National Weather Service observation station and read its latest observation: the words for the present weather (light rain, snow…), wind speed, humidity and, when the station has a rain gauge, the precipitation of the last hour. Only your location rounded to two decimals (about 1 km) leaves your browser.
The numbers shape the sound. Heavier rain means denser drops on the glass, a brighter tone and a louder layer; more wind raises a low wind layer with gusts that build and fade over 3–8 seconds; damp air adds a little more room reverb. Snow swallows sound, so everything above 1,200 Hz is softened. The table values are design choices of this tool, not facts about weather.
If there's no live station near you (outside the U.S., or the station has gone quiet for over 90 minutes), we use the MET Norway forecast for the hour instead and label it as a forecast.
| mm/h | drops/s | tone Hz | level ‰ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0.2 | 30 | 2,500 | 200 |
| 1 | 90 | 3,500 | 350 |
| 3 | 200 | 4,500 | 500 |
| 10 | 450 | 6,000 | 700 |
| 30 | 800 | 7,500 | 850 |
| 50+ | 1,000 | 8,000 | 900 |
| m/s | level ‰ | center Hz | gusts/min |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 250 | 0 |
| 1 | 60 | 300 | 0 |
| 3 | 150 | 400 | 2 |
| 6 | 300 | 500 | 4 |
| 10 | 500 | 650 | 6 |
| 15 | 700 | 800 | 8 |
| 20+ | 850 | 900 | 10 |
Why it isn't a recording
The quiet is live, too
A ten-hour rain video keeps raining when the sky outside is clear. This only plays what your sky is doing. When the rain picks up, the sound follows over 30 seconds; when it stops, it fades over 30 seconds. Nothing jumps. There is never thunder, even in a thunderstorm: the job is sleep.
When it's dry and calm, what we'll play is the quiet: a faint room tone and a distant city hum that drops between 2 and 4 a.m. If you need more sound, baby mode adds a soft floor without changing the weather.
Baby mode and volume
A 2014 study in Pediatrics
Hugh et al., Pediatrics 2014 (PMID 24590753) measured 14 infant sleep machines at full volume from 30, 100 and 200 cm. At 30 cm all of them were louder than 50 dBA, the recommended limit for hospital nurseries, and three passed 85 dBA. The authors suggest placing machines far from the crib, at low volume, for a short time. It is a study published in the American Academy of Pediatrics' journal, not an AAP policy.
This page can't measure the decibels at the crib. What it does: the digital output's average level (RMS) stays under −20 dBFS in every mode, and the volume button only turns it down from there. Baby mode sets a 60-minute timer that fades out over the last five minutes.
This is not medical advice about sleep or hearing.
What happens when the screen turns off
It depends on the browser
While the listening screen is open we ask the browser to keep the screen awake (Screen Wake Lock, where supported), and the lock screen shows 'The sound outside …' with a pause button.
If you lock the phone yourself, some browsers keep playing and some stop. If it stops, wake the screen and press play again. We haven't yet confirmed the screen-off behaviour on a real iPhone and Android phone.
Questions
- Is this a recorded rain sound?
No. Drops, wind and room tone are synthesized live from the latest National Weather Service observation near you. Nothing loops, and when the sky changes the sound follows over 30 seconds.
- Why is it so quiet? It isn't raining.
Because it isn't raining outside and the wind is light. We never play rain that isn't falling. If you need more sound, turn on baby mode: it adds a soft floor without changing the weather.
- How loud is safe for white noise for a baby?
A 2014 study in Pediatrics used 50 dBA, the recommended limit for hospital nurseries, as a reference; all 14 machines it tested were louder than that at 30 cm. This page can't measure decibels at the crib. Keep the phone far away, the volume low and the time short.
- Where should I put the phone?
Far from the crib. That study measured at 30, 100 and 200 cm and its authors recommend placing machines far from the crib. Never in the crib or next to the baby's head.
- Does it keep playing with the screen off?
While listening, we keep the screen awake. If you lock the phone, some browsers keep playing and some stop; if it stops, wake the screen and press play again.
- How often does the sound change?
While you listen we check the observation every 10 minutes. Anything that changed ramps over 30 seconds.
- Does my location go to a server?
Only rounded to two decimals (about 1 km), to find the nearest station. It isn't logged, and it never goes into analytics.
- Why is there no thunder?
Sudden loud sounds wake people up. Even in a thunderstorm we only play the rain and the wind.
Sources: National Weather Service API (opens in a new tab) · Pediatrics 2014 (PMID 24590753) (opens in a new tab) · Checked