Raspberry Pi Weather Clock

 I have a 2 line by 16 character LCD display with a I2C interface. I wanted to use it as a clock and date display which also could display the current weather.

Date and Time Display

Weather Display

I am using a raspberry pi 5 to run a python script to drive the display using the GPIO pins

Rapsberry Pi 5 clock/weather

You will need an API key to open weather openweatherapi. Put your api key in an .env file as openweathermapapikey=yourkey. The python script uses the dotenv library to read this and use your API key. This is a free service with usage limitations. You will need to change the parameters to the open weather API to use you city and units.

        params = {

            "q": "Etobicoke,Ontario,CA",

            "units": "metric",  # For Celsius

            "appid": OPENWEATHERMAPAPIKEY  # API key

        }

#!/usr/bin/env python3

"""

lcd_weatherclock.py - A program that displays a clock on an LCD screen

and shows weather information for 10 seconds when a button is pressed.

"""

from LCD import LCD

import datetime

import time

import requests

import os

from dotenv import load_dotenv

from gpiozero import Button

import threading

# Load environment variables from .env file

load_dotenv()

# Initialize LCD

lcd = LCD(2, 0x27, True)

lcd.clear()

# Initialize button with debounce

button = Button(21, pull_up=True, bounce_time=0.2)  # 200ms debounce time

# Global variables

display_mode = "clock"  # Can be "clock" or "weather"

weather_timer = None

def get_etobicoke_weather():

    """

    Get current weather for Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada using OpenWeatherMap API

    """

    try:

        # OpenWeatherMap API endpoint for current weather

        url = "https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather"

        # Get APP ID for weather api

        OPENWEATHERMAPAPIKEY = os.getenv("openweathermapapikey")

        # Parameters for Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada

        params = {

            "q": "Etobicoke,Ontario,CA",

            "units": "metric",  # For Celsius

            "appid": OPENWEATHERMAPAPIKEY  # API key

        }

        # Make the API request

        response = requests.get(url, params=params)

        # Check if the request was successful

        if response.status_code == 200:

            # Parse the JSON response

            weather_data = response.json()

            # Extract relevant information

            temperature = weather_data["main"]["temp"]

            condition = weather_data["weather"][0]["main"]

            humidity = weather_data["main"]["humidity"]

            return {

                "temperature": temperature,

                "condition": condition,

                "humidity": humidity

            }

        else:

            return {"error": f"API Error: {response.status_code}"}

    except Exception as e:

        return {"error": f"Error: {str(e)}"}

def display_weather(lcd):

    """

    Display weather data on the LCD

    """

    global display_mode

    

    # Set display mode to weather

    display_mode = "weather"

    

    # Show loading message

    lcd.clear()

    lcd.message("Weather...")

    

    # Get weather data

    weather_data = get_etobicoke_weather()

    

    lcd.clear()

    if "error" in weather_data:

        lcd.message("Weather Error")

        lcd.message(weather_data["error"][:16], 2)  # Truncate to fit LCD width

    else:

        # Format and display weather information

        temp_str = f"Temp: {weather_data['temperature']:.1f}C"

        cond_str = f"{weather_data['condition']} {weather_data['humidity']}%"

        lcd.message(temp_str)

        lcd.message(cond_str, 2)

    

    # Set a timer to switch back to clock after 10 seconds

    global weather_timer

    if weather_timer:

        weather_timer.cancel()

    weather_timer = threading.Timer(10.0, switch_to_clock)

    weather_timer.start()

def switch_to_clock():

    """

    Switch display back to clock mode

    """

    global display_mode

    display_mode = "clock"

    # The main loop will update the display on the next iteration

def display_clock(lcd, force_update=False):

    """

    Display clock on the LCD

    """

    now = datetime.datetime.now()

    currenttime = now.strftime("%H:%M:%S")

    currentdate = now.strftime("%d-%m-%Y")

    

    # Only update if time/date changed or force update is requested

    if force_update or currenttime != display_clock.lasttime or currentdate != display_clock.lastdate:

        lcd.clear()

        lcd.message('%02d:%02d:%02d' % (now.hour, now.minute, now.second), 1)

        lcd.message('%02d-%02d-%04d' % (now.day, now.month, now.year), 2)

        display_clock.lasttime = currenttime

        display_clock.lastdate = currentdate

# Initialize static variables for display_clock function

display_clock.lasttime = ''

display_clock.lastdate = ''

def button_pressed():

    """Function called when button is pressed"""

    global display_mode

    if display_mode == "clock":

        display_weather(lcd)

# Assign callback function to button press event

button.when_pressed = button_pressed

# Display welcome message

lcd.message("Weather Clock")

lcd.message("Starting...", 2)

time.sleep(2)

lcd.clear()

# Main loop

try:

    while True:

        if display_mode == "clock":

            display_clock(lcd)

        time.sleep(0.1)

except KeyboardInterrupt:

    # Clean up on exit

    if weather_timer:

        weather_timer.cancel()

    lcd.clear()

    print("\nExiting program")