MySpace and Facebook are clearly the social network superpowers in the U.S., but the web is littered with smaller niche social networks. News Corp., noticing the absence of a community that focuses on climate change and precipitation, has launched Fox Weather, a social network for weather junkies.

Members can create profiles, write blogs and post pictures of storms and clouds, but the central feature of Fox Weather is an interactive Google map that offers forecasts from across the nation. The map also includes high-definition radar, letting budding meteorologists feel like the evening news weather anchor as they watch animated rain clouds move across the country. Visitors can use the map features without registering or creating a profile.

Fox Weather, which is still in beta, offers little content besides the map -- at launch, there were only four featured bloggers, whose posts ranged from the affect a hurricane can have on gas prices to the weather patterns surrounding the Great Wall of China.

The new social network is included under the Fox Interactive Media umbrella, which also includes MySpace, AskMen.com and IGN.