This weather-forecasting lamp creates an indoor cloud to warn of grey skies outside.

The Nebula 12 by Swiss design studio Micasa LAB combines liquid nitrogen and hot water to create a billowing cloud of steam, which is kept in circulation around the lamp by vacuum suction.

The form the cloud takes and the colour of the lamp depend on the weather forecast for the next 48 hours.

A grey cloud appears on an overcast day, while a patch of low pressure is signalled by a red light seeping through the cloud. On sunny days the cloud disappears, leaving a warm yellow light, and at sunset the light turns warm orange.

The weather forecast is sent to the lamp via a WiFi connection with a Nokia Lumia 920 mobile phone –the only phone the lamp works with so far.

Micasa LAB is the design studio attached to Micasa, a German furniture and interiors brand.

Above: movie by Micasa LAB showing the Nebula 12 in operation

We’ve featured a few cloud-generating projects on Dezeen, including a house in Kuwait with a courtyard concealed by mist and a water feature in London that erupts in misty clouds.

See all our stories about weather »

Here’s some more information from the designers:

The Nebula 12 is a concept developed by Micasa LAB, Zürich. Using meterological data from MetOff, the Nebula forms to represent outside weather: wake up to a flooding yellow light on a sunny day, or below a real cloud on that overcast winter morning. The cloud involves some peculiar techniques, liquid nitrogen, WiFi, and high power vacuum suction.

In the standard mode, Nebula 12 predicts the weather for the next 48 hours. A threatening low-pressure area is announced by a red cloud, and sunshine is shown in yellow. At the same time, the user can adjust the settings and define the source of information themselves. And the best is: regardless of how dark the cloud is, Nebula 12 never brings rain. At least, not within one’s own four walls.

The light but stable creation can be used in many ways: Nebula 12 can, like a natural cloud, change in colour and brightness and thus can be used as a variable source of light for romantic evening meals, when doing homework, when reading or just chatting.

The cloud is easily connected by WIFI to your Nokia Lumia 920.