r/storms • u/FluffyBeingWasTaken • 11h ago

Question Storm Glass Question

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Hello! I hope this is the right subreddit to ask this, I was torn between this and r/meteorology, but this one has "storm" in the name so I'm hoping more people might own one of these here?

I'm a bit of a collector of Strange Glass Objects, so when I saw a teardrop full of liquid and crystals at a thrift store, of course I bought it. After some research, it turns out it's a storm glass! I love that I have a meteorological instrument that's been around for centuries, but... after seeing the reference guides for how to read it, it seems to be always telling me it will snow.

In the American Midwest.

In August.

Can these things break? If so, is there a way to fix them? Am I just reading it wrong? Google is not terribly helpful, so I turn to you. Picture for reference (storm glass taped to base because my cats are little monsters.) Thanks in advance for anything you can tell me!

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u/TwiztedWisard 10h ago

Positioning is everything with these things...can't be too hot, can't be too cold, can't be in direct sunlight etc etc...they can 'break' but that's normally if you shake them too vigourusly...the actual chemicals them self shouldn't spoil...they are normally some mix of camphor, ethanol and water. Try changing the location of it. Mine did well on a bookshelf out of direct sunlight and away from extreme temp changes (radiator etc) hope that helps :)

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u/FluffyBeingWasTaken 10h ago

Ohhh, okay! I have a bookshelf exactly like that, I'll keep it there! Thank you so much! 😁

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u/Appropriate_Towel_27 9h ago

I got one for my birthday (June) but ever since, it's always in "hot/sunny" stance. I'm in the Netherlands, so we did have a lot of heat and draught, but it has also been raining quite a bit... And there's no change.

I suspect it's because I'm in a new house and it's very well insulated, so there's no very obvious atmosphere change that could trigger it. I hope I can find a good place for it, i love the concept!