Weather beacon

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A weather beacon is a beacon that indicates the local weather forecast in a code of colored or flashing lights. Often, a short poem or jingle accompanies the code to make it easier to remember. (example)

The beacon is usually on the roof of a tall building in a central business district, but some are attached to towers. The beacons are most commonly owned by financial services companies and television stations and are part of advertising and public relations programs. They provide a very basic forecast for the general public and not as an aid to navigation.

Contents 1 History 2 List of weather beacons 2.1 Australia 2.2 Belgium 2.3 Canada 2.4 Germany 2.5 Turkey 2.6 United Kingdom 2.7 United States 3 See also 4 Notes

[edit] History

The first attempt to create a weather beacon as a form of advertising was from Douglas Leigh, who, in 1941, arranged a lighting scheme for the Empire State Building to display a weather forecast code with the decoder packaged with Coca-Cola bottles. The plan was abandoned following the attack on Pearl Harbor later that year.^[1] Mr. Leigh resurrected his idea in Minneapolis in October 1949 with the Northwestern National Bank Weatherball.^[2]

In Australia, the Mutual Life and Citizens insurance company installed weather beacons atop its buildings in 1957 and '58.^[3]

Weather beacons were most popular during the 1950s and '60s.

[edit] List of weather beacons

[edit] Australia

• New South Wales
  • MLC Building, North Sydney^[4]
  • Westpac Place, Sydney^[5]

• Queensland
  • Hitachi Building (MLC Building), Brisbane^[6][7][8][9]
    • decommissioned @ 6PM, Monday 26 November 2007^[10][11]
  • Old MLC Building, 243 Edward Street, Brisbane (28 July 1958 – ????;non-functioning)^[12]

• South Australia
  • Beacon House (MLC Building), Adelaide^[13][14]

• Victoria
  • IOOF Building (formerly MLC), 303 Collins Street, Melbourne (non-functioning)^[15][16]
  • Carlton & United Brewery, Abbotsford^[17]

[edit] Belgium

• Who's afraid of Red, Green and Blue: Weather Tower, Dexia Tower, Brussels (22 October 2007 – 22 December 2007)^[18][19]

[edit] Canada

• Canada Life Building, Toronto, Ontario (9 August 1951 – present)
• 505 boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest, Montreal, Quebec (dismantled)^[20][21]

[edit] Germany

• Die Aachener Wettersäule, Aachen^[22]

[edit] Turkey

• Beyazıt Tower, Istanbul^[23]

[edit] United Kingdom

• Light Towers Project (Coventry Point, Mercia House, Hillman House), Coventry^[24][25][26]

[edit] United States

• California
  • Mattei Building (formerly Guarantee Savings), Fresno (non-functioning)^[27]
  • KXTV Weather Tower, Sacramento^[28]

• Florida
  • American Federal Savings and Loan Association weather ball, Fidelity Storage building, 53 W. Jackson St., Orlando (1963 – 1974; dismantled)^[29][30]

• Illinois
  • Weather Bell, Bell Federal Savings Building (street level), 79 West Monroe Street, Chicago^{[31][32][33][34]}
    • Bell Federal Savings branch office, Michigan Avenue, Chicago^[35]
  • WLS-TV Thermometer, Marina City, Chicago (1964 – 1978; dismantled)^[36]

• Iowa
  • KCCI, Des Moines^[37][38][39]
  • American Trust Tower, Dubuque
  • KCAU-TV Weather Ball, Terra Centre, Sioux City^[40]

• Louisiana
  • Falstaff Brewery Weather Ball, New Orleans (1 August 1952 – 7 December 1978; restoration planned for 2008)^{[41][42][43][44][45][46][47]}

• Massachusetts
  • Berkeley Building, Boston (15 March 1950 – present)^[48]

• Michigan
  • Citizens Bank Weatherball, Flint (30 October 1956 – present)^[49]
  • 13 Weatherball, WZZM-TV, Grand Rapids (1967 – 1987 as Michigan National Bank; 2003 – present)^{[50][51][52][53]}

• Minnesota
  • Northwestern National Bank Weatherball, Minneapolis (7 October 1949 – November 1982; dismantled)^{[54][55][56][57][58][59]}
    • Saint Paul branch office (dismantled)^[60]
    • Montevideo branch office
    • seven more Northwestern branch offices
  • WEBC Weather Beacon, Duluth^[61]

• Missouri
  • KCTV Tower, Kansas City
  • Business Men's Assurance Company (BMA) weather beacon, 215 W. Pershing Road, Kansas City (dismantled)^[62][63]
  • Terra Cotta Lofts and Red Moon Restaurant (formerly Great American Life Insurance Company building), St. Louis (1956 – 1979)^{[64][65][66][67][68]}

• Montana
  • US Bank Tower, Billings (dismantled)^[69]
  • Union Bank Weather Ball, Helena^[70]

• Nebraska
  • KMTV Weather Tower, N. 72nd Street, Omaha

• New York
  • Mutual of New York Building, W. 55th Street & Broadway, New York City^[71][72] (inspiration for song Mony, Mony but is no longer using color coding although temperature is still flashed)
  • AXA (MONY) Weatherstar, Syracuse

• North Dakota
  • Provident Beacon, Bismarck^[73][74][75]

• Ohio
  • Chiquita Center, Cincinnati (non-functioning)^[76]

• Oklahoma
  • First Liberty Bank, Ramsey Tower/City Place, Oklahoma City (dismantled)^[77]
  • NBT Weather Teller, 320 South Boston, Tulsa^[78][79][80]

• Oregon
  • Standard Insurance Plaza, Portland^{[81][82][83][84][85]}
  • Weather Machine, Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland

• Pennsylvania
  • WTAE-TV Weather Watch, Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh^[86][87]
  • Gulf Tower, Pittsburgh (non-functioning)^[88][89]

• South Dakota
  • KELO weatherball, Sherman Hotel, Aberdeen (dismantled)^[90]
  • First National Bank, Pierre
  • US Bank building, 141 N. Main Avenue, Sioux Falls (non-functioning)^[91]

• Tennessee
  • Provident Weather Beacon, Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company (now Unum), Maclellan Building, Chattanooga (dismantled)^[92][93]

• Texas
  • Mercantile Weather Tower, Mercantile National Bank Building, Dallas (dismantled)^[94]
  • Texas National Bank (later Conoco) Weather Eye, Travis Tower, Houston (17 October 1955 – 1964)^{[95][96][97][98][99][100]}
  • Alamo National Bank weather spire (now Drury Plaza Hotel), San Antonio^[101][102]

• Utah
  • KSL-TV 5 Eyewitness Weather Tower, Trolley Square, Salt Lake City^[103]
  • Walker Center, Salt Lake City^[104]

• Virginia
  • Newmarket Shopping Center, Newport News^{[citation needed]}
• Wisconsin
  • Weather Flame, Wisconsin Gas Building, Milwaukee^{[105][106][107]}

[edit] See also

• Coastal warning display tower
• Radome
• Time ball

[edit] Notes