How I Built an AI-Powered Weather Web App (SkyCast)
Source: Dev.to
🌦️ Why Build Yet Another Weather App?
Most weather websites today suffer from at least one of these problems:
- Too many ads
- Slow loading times
- Unnecessary logins
- Overloaded UI
My goal was to build a weather app that:
- Works globally 🌍
- Loads instantly ⚡
- Feels clean and minimal ✨
- Adds value with AI, not complexity 🤖
That’s how SkyCast started.
🛠️ Tech Stack (Kept Simple on Purpose)
Frontend
- HTML, CSS, JavaScript
- Mobile‑first responsive layout
- Progressive Web App (PWA)
Weather Data
- Open‑Meteo API
- Real‑time weather
- 7‑day forecast
- Temperature, wind, humidity
- Air Quality Index (AQI)
AI Layer
- Serverless function that converts raw weather data into short, human‑readable insights
Example:
“Today will be warm with moderate air quality — staying hydrated is recommended.”
🤖 Why Use AI Here?
Most weather apps just display numbers. SkyCast uses AI to:
- Summarize weather conditions
- Provide simple advice
- Make forecasts easier to understand
The goal isn’t to replace meteorological data — it’s to make it more useful.
🎨 UI & UX Choices
- One primary temperature display
- Minimal icons
- No visual clutter
- Fast interactions
If users can understand the weather in 3 seconds, the UI has done its job.
⚡ Performance & SEO Decisions
- Static HTML pages
- No client‑heavy frameworks
- Optimized meta tags, sitemap, and
robots.txt - Open Graph tags for sharing
Results:
- Faster load times
- Better Lighthouse scores
- Easier Google indexing
💸 Monetization (Still Experimenting)
Currently:
- Non‑intrusive ads
- No subscriptions or paywalls
Possible future ideas:
- Premium AI insights
- Weather widgets
- Developer API access
I’m still validating what users actually want before committing.
🧠 Lessons Learned
- Simplicity beats complexity
- Static sites scale extremely well
- SEO should be done early
- Google indexing takes patience
- Community feedback is invaluable
🔗 Try It Live
SkyCast is live here:
I’d love feedback on:
- UI/UX
- AI usefulness
- Feature ideas
🚀 Final Thoughts
You don’t need a complex stack or a large team to build something useful.
Start small, ship early, and iterate based on feedback.
If you’re building a side project right now — keep going.
Thanks for reading 🙌