# ARE These Things Still made? (Weather rings)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-things-still-made-weather-rings/220325>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 21, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-things-still-made-weather-rings/220325 "2003-12-21T17:03:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-things-still-made-weather-rings/220325/1 "2003-12-21T17:03:52Z")

</div>

When I was a kid, I sent $5.00 and 500 candy bar wrappers somewhere, and received a ring that changed color with the weather. It would be blue for fair skies, and would change to pink when it was about to rain. I think there was some kind of moisture-sensitive chemical inside…Anyway, are these things still available? I want to buy some for my kids.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Red\_Matrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/34f0e0/32.png) [@Red\_Matrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Matrix)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-things-still-made-weather-rings/220325/2 "2003-12-22T18:42:58Z")

</div>

I don’t know. Are they similar to a mood ring? (that uses a stone sensetive to heat)

FD

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-things-still-made-weather-rings/220325/3 "2003-12-22T22:26:13Z")

</div>

Heh! My friends grandmother had a little plastic statuette of the virgin Mary covered in a fuzzy velvet version of whatever that stuff was (not at all tacky – nope) and, yeah, I think it was sensitive to humidity.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-things-still-made-weather-rings/220325/4 "2003-12-23T00:17:11Z")

</div>

I remember such novelties, but cannot seem to find any via google.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-things-still-made-weather-rings/220325/5 "2003-12-23T01:14:41Z")

</div>

The chemical in question IFRC is Cobalt Chloride. It is quite commonly available and comes in every kid’s chemistry set (or used to). All you have to do is mix a little of it with water and paint it on pretty much any white surface. There’s not much to the stuff. When very dry, it’s light blue. When humid, it’s pink. As a weather predictor, it’s about as accurate as your Grandma’s bunions or hair frizziness, but kids do like it (I did, anyway)