Weather System
World BuildingDynamic weather and time-of-day: Sky Atmosphere, Volumetric Clouds, directional light, Exponential Height Fog, and Niagara effects.
/skill weather-system What this skill does
Weather System teaches you how to build dynamic weather and time-of-day systems in Unreal Engine 5. Since UE5 does not ship a single unified weather plugin, this skill shows you how to combine Sky Atmosphere, Volumetric Clouds, Directional Light rotation, Exponential Height Fog, Niagara particle effects, and Material Parameter Collections into a cohesive, controllable weather pipeline. You will learn to transition smoothly between clear skies, overcast, rain, snow, and storms while keeping everything synchronized with time-of-day and audio.
Covers
- Time-of-day (Directional Light rotation)
- Sky Atmosphere
- Volumetric Clouds
- Exponential Height Fog
- Rain and snow particle weather (Niagara)
- Wind system (WindDirectionalSource)
- Weather material effects (wet surfaces, snow accumulation, puddles)
- Weather transitions
- Weather audio
Does not cover
- Water body creation → water-system
- Foliage wind animation → foliage-placement
- Cloth wind response → cloth-simulation
- Lightning VFX → niagara-basics
How to use
Invoke directly in Claude Code:
/skill weather-systemThis skill is also auto-detected when your prompt mentions weather, rain, snow, fog, storm, wind, clouds, time-of-day, day-night, or volumetric-clouds intent. AgentUX will automatically activate Weather System when it recognizes relevant atmospheric context in your request.
Key Unreal Engine concepts
| Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| USkyAtmosphereComponent | Simulates physically accurate atmospheric scattering, producing realistic sky colors, sunsets, and aerial perspective that respond to the sun's position. |
| UVolumetricCloudComponent | Renders physically-based volumetric clouds with ray-marched lighting, supporting dynamic cloud layers, coverage maps, and time-of-day color changes. |
| UExponentialHeightFogComponent | A fog system where density decreases exponentially with altitude, used for ground-level haze, mist, and atmospheric depth in weather conditions. |
| WindDirectionalSource | An actor that defines global wind direction and intensity, affecting foliage sway, cloth simulation, Niagara particles, and other wind-responsive systems. |
| Material Parameter Collection | A shared set of scalar and vector parameters accessible by any material in the scene, used to drive weather effects like wetness, snow coverage, and puddle depth globally. |
| Niagara Weather Effects | Niagara particle systems configured for rain drops, snowflakes, dust, and other atmospheric particles that respond to wind direction and player movement. |
Related skills
lighting-fundamentals
Light scenes for cinematic and real-time rendering
niagara-basics
Niagara particle system for VFX
post-process-fundamentals
Post-process pipeline effects
material-basics
Apply and configure materials
audio-sequencer
Audio in Sequencer and spatial audio
What you'll learn
- How to build a complete time-of-day system with realistic sky and lighting
- Configuring Volumetric Clouds and Exponential Height Fog for atmospheric depth
- Creating rain, snow, and storm effects with Niagara particles and wind
- Driving wet surfaces, snow accumulation, and puddles through Material Parameter Collections
- Blending weather transitions smoothly with synchronized audio