Its last big release was back in 2007, but Windows weather monitor WeatherMate has jumped back to life with the release of version 4.0, and a host of major improvements.

The program can now display a vast number of detailed US radar and weather maps, organised into categories like “Current Conditions”, “Forecasts”, “Severe Weather”, “Travel”, “Health”, “Aviation”, “Marine”, “Golf” and “Farming”.

Select “Current Conditions” alone and you can choose to display temperature, heat index, wind chill, UV, snow cover and more.

Choose the weather maps you need and display them on demand

If you don’t have time to browse the details yourself, no problem: WeatherMate 4.0 now automatically alerts you to severe weather warnings via pop-ups and even speech. (The latter relies on Windows’ own speech system, and can be disabled if you’re not keen on unexpected audio alerts.)

Interface improvements include the option to widen WeatherMate’s window, useful when viewing detailed maps.

The program can now display its weather in English, French, German, Spanish or Italian.

Conveniently, WeatherMate 4.0 is now also fully portable, and can detect, download and install new versions all on its own.