Google Maps added an extremely useful, if not logical, feature to their map system today: weather reports. This a feature we're definitely going to tap into while taking our vacation next week in the mercurial Pacific Northwest (phew, 10-day forecast calls for clear skies up in Portland!).

To add the weather layer, hover over the widget in the upper right corner of Google Maps and select the weather layer from the list of options. When zoomed out, you’ll see a map with current weather conditions from weather.com for various locations, with icons to denote sun, clouds, rain and so on. You can also see cloud coverage, thanks to our partners at the U.S. Naval Research Lab. And, if you look closely, you can also tell if it’s day or night around the world by sun and moon icons.

Full details about weather report integration over at The Official Google Blog, or simply log into Google Maps and start playing around with the weather layer feature here.