Background information: THE WEATHER CHANNEL (TWC) is one of the cable and satellite channels that viewers get. It is a weather resource used by millions of people. Reasons that THE WEATHER CHANNEL is liked: 1. Viewers can count on getting local forecast information at the same time each hour. 2. The radar information is good. It is good being able to see radar data with the local forecast and good to see the national and regional radars that are shown. Often this is the only channel available to get radar information over the TV in some areas of the country. 3. During severe weather, hurricane and winter storm situations they will bring in experts to discuss the situation. These experts are great at using the computer and weather data resources at their disposal. 4. The channel is available 24 hours a day whereas the local TV stations only have weather information at specific times in a general weather situation. 5. They send reporters out into the field during big weather events. It is great to sees those guys getting clobbered by blizzards and hurricanes. Their reporting brings a better perspective to the weather situation. It is a resource to get visuals of storm damage and weather events. 6. Some of the TV weather people are simply irresistible to watch. This lady or that guy is sexy and/or very fun to listen to. 7. They have a decent website, http://www.weather.com/, to go along with the TV channel. There are good charts to look at during tropical storm / hurricane approaches and other severe weather events. There are many good basic maps. 8. The music played with the local forecast is often pleasing. They should sell a CD of "weather channel music". Reasons why THE WEATHER CHANNEL is not liked and reasons why TWC is the way that it is: 1. While okay for the general public, the information is too basic to be of much use for someone who is already a meteorologist or involved in forecasting. The National Weather Service, Storm Prediction Center, Tropical Prediction Center, the Internet and other technical sources are more useful. This should be no surprise though since TWC is interested in ratings and earning a profit. The vast majority of people that watch TWC do not have meteorology degrees and are not meteorology students. 2. There are too many TV commercials. At some points the TV commercials seem to go on and on and never end. One must also endure the ads on the website. This should be no surprise though since TWC is interested in earning a profit. However, it surpasses many people's breaking point of the number of commercials they will endure to keep watching the channel. 3. They have to cover too large of an area. Since they forecast for the whole country, mesoscale and local effects get lost when the TV weather people are discussing the national maps. They will focus on viewers in high populated areas and on areas that have the most viewers at a certain time. If you tune in from a low populated region or when not many viewers are watching from your region of the country there will not be as much useful local information from the on-air personality. This is a main reason people still watch their local TV weather broadcasters on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, etc., instead of only TWC. 4. There are too many self promotions such as all those promotions for Storm Stories. These shows also get in the way of seeing the national forecast information. Once again, this should be no surprise since TWC is interested in ratings and earning a profit. 5. The local forecast pages sometimes mess up or do not run through correctly. It is annoying when some observations have missing data and when the radar data is temporary unavailable. 6. The local forecast, although the music is great, is impersonal. It would be better if a person was giving this information like the weather broadcasters do on local TV stations. This is monetarily impractical to do though when you consider all the labor costs that would be involved in doing that. 7. Often complaints are made that some statements made by the weather broadcasters are not meteorologically accurate. Flubs are also pointed out. Most of these mistakes are minor and when someone talks a long time they are bound to say something that will be "flubbish" or misinterpreted. It is those with meteorology knowledge that catch many of these mistakes. The general public does not catch most of them. Some are simply for comic relief. The webpage below has some examples of the kinds of things people will point out: Weather Channel Flubs |