GoKawiilLocal weather is one of the most underrated variables to use in your Apple Home automation setup. Over the past few years, I have used sensors for everything from knowing when to drip faucets in freezing weather to adjusting the sprinkler schedule with the Eve Aqua on hot days. Eve Weather has been part of my setup for a while now, and with its Matter upgrade a few years ago, it is incredibly useful in my home.
HomeKit Weekly is a series focused on smart home accessories, automation tips and tricks, and everything to do with Apple’s smart home framework.
If you have read HomeKit Weekly for any amount of time, you know I love automations that just run on their own. Smart home accessories are only useful if they can do something automatically. That is exactly why I have always recommended building around a single ecosystem for your smart home instead of mixing and matching. Even in the age of Matter, I don’t want to use a bunch of different platforms. For me, that is Apple Home. I lean on Eve devices because they have always prioritized privacy and skipped the cloud account requirement if you simply stick to local control that works with Matter. Eve has also been aggressive in supporting Matter and Thread in recent years. That is what you want to see.
Eve Weather gives you three data points from a single small device: temperature, humidity, and air pressure. It is IPX4 water-resistant, and the aluminum body makes it look like it belongs right outside my house. That is exactly where mine is mounted. It gives me hyperlocal readings that are often a couple of degrees off from what the Apple Weather app reports. Honestly, that difference is critical depending on whether it is super hot or very cold. When your pipes freeze at 31°F and your app says 34°F, you will definitely wish you had the local data.
One of the underrated features of Eve Weather is its built-in 12-hour weather trend display. It uses changes in air pressure to predict what the weather will do. You get a visual icon showing if it is likely to be sunny, cloudy, rainy, or stormy. That little detail adds a lot of value, and it is something you can see at a glance without having to open an app on your phone.
Here are a few of the automations you could build using the Eve Weather:
Turn on a colored light when the temperature dips below freezing to remind the family to drip the faucets.
Trigger a dehumidifier when the outdoor humidity is especially high.
Delay the sprinkler system if it has already rained and the forecast indicates more rain is coming.
Ask Siri what the current front yard temperature is without going outside.
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