July 25, 2026
Forecast: 100% chance of discourse
Show HN: Brolly, a plain-text weather forecast site
A stripped-down weather page has commenters swooning, nitpicking, and begging for a text-only glow-up
TLDR: Brolly is a new weather site that shows forecasts in super-simple plain text instead of flashy graphics. Commenters loved the old-school vibe and phone-friendly layout, but immediately started arguing over whether the text-only mode works properly and whether the rain chart is weirdly oversized.
A tiny weather website called Brolly just did the impossible: it turned a forecast into comment-section theater. Instead of flashy maps, cartoons, and giant buttons, Brolly serves up the weather in plain text — rows of temperatures, wind, rain chances, air quality, and even pollen. For some readers, this was basically a love letter to a simpler internet. One fan bluntly declared, “DIG IT. This is how the web used to feel,” which pretty much became the mood of the thread.
But this wasn’t just nostalgia bait — it sparked instant feature requests, picky design feedback, and a little nerdy chaos. One of the biggest mini-dramas? A confused user asking how to actually switch on the promised text-only mode, saying they kept getting regular web pages no matter what they tried. That’s the kind of detail that sends comment sections into detective mode fast. Meanwhile, another commenter was already polishing the product, praising the compact design while gently dragging the rain chart as too chunky and suggesting a slimmer version.
The praise kept coming anyway. People compared it to older text-based weather tools, but said Brolly feels friendlier on phones and narrower screens. One commenter even joked it’s basically perfect food for AI bots, because you can paste the forecast into an assistant and ask for the gist. So yes: the forecast may be overcast, but the reactions are sunny — with a light chance of nerd snobbery.
Key Points
- •The article showcases Brolly as a plain-text weather forecast site.
- •The displayed current conditions are overcast, 17.6°C, feels like 18.1°C, with 5 mph wind, UV 0.0, and AQI 17.
- •The daily forecast spans from yesterday through Sat 01/08, listing conditions, temperature ranges, wind, and precipitation.
- •The hourly forecast from 01:00 to 23:00 includes brief drizzle in the early morning and stronger wind gusts later in the day.
- •The page also includes text-based charts for precipitation, UV index, air quality, and pollen levels for grass and mugwort.