Weatherscan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Weatherscan | |
 |
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| Type | Cable network (Weather) |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Availability | National; with local information only |
| Owner | The Weather Channel, Inc. |
| Launch date | 1999 |
| Past names | Weatherscan Local |
| Website | www.weather.com (TWC webpage) |
Weatherscan (formerly Weatherscan Local) is a digital TV channel offered by The Weather Channel. The channel is carried on select cable TV systems in the United States. The channel features uninterrupted local weather information, with graphics on a continuous loop. Unlike its mother-network, Weatherscan does not feature on-air talent of any kind.
It uses a slightly-modified version of the IntelliStar weather information system used for the main TWC channel. The only differences are in the on-screen graphics used, and the fact that it runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week displaying current local weather information with computer graphics. A pre-recorded narration notes when several segments appear - including "Your Current Conditions" and "Your Local Forecast."
Contents |
[edit] Weatherscan's Packages
Weatherscan has a variety of segments that show different information regarding the weather. Below are a list of known packages on Weatherscan and some brief information about them. Note that some Weatherscans do not carry some of these packages.
Your Local Forecast
The local forecast is the segment that all Weatherscans have. It includes all local weather data, including current conditions, local radar, and 5-day forecast.
Your Local Radar
The local radar segment shows the local doppler radar looping continuously for one minute.
Traffic Report
The top 40 markets have the traffic report on Weatherscan. This package includes local traffic delays and traffic flow.
Airport Conditions
The airport segment shows local airport delays and weather conditions for two airports in the headend's metropolitan area. It also has a list of delays for major airports throughout the nation. This is one of the segments that most Weatherscans carry.
Travel Forecast
This segment is ideal for individuals who plan to travel. The travel segment shows regional forecast maps and a three day forecast for select cities nationwide. As with the airport segment, travel is one of the most common segments on Weatherscan.
International Forecast
People who plan to travel around the globe can watch the international forecast for weather for select cities worldwide.
Weather and Your Health
Weather and your health displays a variety of health-related forecasts, including air quality, ultraviolet index, and sun safety information.
Ski and Snow (seasonal)
The skier's forecast shows a list of ski resorts and their conditions throughout the country for those who plan to hit the slopes. It also includes a snowfall forecast map.
Golf Forecast (seasonal)
The golfer's forecast includes the forecast for golf courses and resorts as well as a golf index and tee time forecast.
Garden (seasonal)
Garden is a rare segment that very few headends carry. This package contains information for lawn and gardening activities. It includes a precipitation forecast map, a drought severety map among other maps.
Boat and Beach (seasonal)
Boat and beach is only available for select headends in coastal locations. It includes marine forecast, tidal information, and surf reports.
[edit] Weatherscan Timeline
1999
- Weatherscan Local debuts, showing only a 2 minute long local forecast back to back. It features only one song by the artist Trammell Starks.
Late 2000
- Weatherscan Local gets a new look. The weather icons' animation was removed (they were animated prior to this update) and are now still icons.
- New products are added to several Weatherscan Locals nationwide, including Health, Airport, Spanish Forecast, among others. Some Weatherscans have been reported to still show only the local forecast back to back.
- As for the music, an entire album of Trammell Starks music is now played, previously it only played one of his songs.
Mid-late 2001
- Weatherscan Local's local forecast now comes directly from The Weather Channel, previously from the National Weather Service. This has occurred to Weatherscan Local earlier than the WeatherStars used on The Weather Channel.
September 2003
- Weatherscan Local has been simplified to "Weatherscan" and has received entirely new graphics. The weather icons once again become animated, and the graphics are a lot more superior than its older version.
- A "severe weather mode" was added to Weatherscan during this upgrade. The yellow, blue colors become red and gray, and it only shows the local forecast, and a severe weather message saying "Weatherscan (name of forecast area) gives you this special message because of severe weather in your area".
- An "advertisement crawl" has been added to Weatherscan for some areas. Other areas do not have the ad crawl.
- Weatherscan gets new music, now featuring songs by unknown production music companies.
Early 2004
- The first signs of the music "skipping" are heard on Weatherscan. Eventually, the music started skipping more and more often.
Early-mid August 2004
- Weatherscan's font becomes bolder and slightly smaller. A fade in-fade out effect was added in between each day on the 36-Hour Forecast.
- The local radar is more superior, now showing more major roads on the radar. Many Weatherscan's local radars have also become more local.
- The local radar now shows the precipitation's movement within the past 3 hours, previously the past 2 hours.
- The music has been fixed show it does not skip. The music also has a better surround sound.
February 17, 2005
- The 36-Hour Forecast now becomes a 48-Hour Local Forecast, now showing the forecast for today up to the next day's night.
- The point size of the text on the local forecast becomes larger, now bigger than the "Local Forecast" title.
- Some songs on Weatherscan have been replaced with new ones.
- During severe weather mode, Weatherscan now shows only the Local Radar, Weather Bulletins (if a weather watch or statement is issued), and the special weather message.
April 2005
- Many Weatherscans that display only the local forecast (such as headends in the Philadelphia area) have been upgraded to show other segments, such as Airport Conditions and the Travel Forecast.
July 2005
- A "Traffic Report" was added to Weatherscans on the top viewing markets such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta, showing the traffic conditions from Traffic Pulse for a city's metropolitan area. Also, a 1-minute long local radar segment has been added to Weatherscans nationwide.
September 2005
- Weatherscan receives a bold new look in accordance with The Weather Channel's new logo and graphics. An "L-bar" was added, that shows instant information to viewers, which is much similar to NBC Weather Plus. Current conditions, extended forecast, local radar, and local observations are now shown constantly to the viewer.
- More narration is added to Weatherscan, such as narration to the local radar, traffic segment, among other segments.
March 2006
- More songs are removed and more new ones have been added to Weatherscan.
April 2006
- HiRAD technology begins to be introduced into some Weatherscans.
December 12, 2006
- Weather icons that have been in use on Weatherscan from 1999-2006 were replaced by more realistic icons. The changes were also made on IntelliStar and weather.com. Also changed was the text descriptor of some icons to a more grammatically acceptable term, I.E. "Rain/Snow/Wind" becomes "Rain, Snow, & Wind."
January 23, 2007
- As with the TWC IntelliStar, the Weatherscan radar has been changed. "Light" and "Heavy" changed to "rain," and "mix" and "snow" were added. The color key was totally removed from the mini-Radar in the corner of the screen.
[edit] Trivia
- Weatherscan is available in most top markets around the US, including Philadelphia, PA, Pittsburgh, PA, Atlanta, GA, Los Angeles, CA, and Minneapolis, MN. Weatherscan is now no longer available in Dallas, TX/Fort Worth, TX on Time Warner, though it is still available on Verizon FiOS.
- While Weatherscan is moved to the digital cable packages in 2004, Comcast Cable in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex (now replaced by Time Warner Cable) kept Weatherscan in the basic cable lineup until September 2006[citation needed].
- There are still several cable headends that have Weatherscan on their basic cable line-up, such as the Comcast headend in Bensalem, PA.
- Comcast in Atlanta moved Weatherscan to their digital line-up as of March 1, 2007.
- On November 1st, 2006, Suddenlink Communications added Weatherscan to digital packages to its customers in West Virginia and other places [1].
