The Weather
Channel is a cable and satellite television network that broadcasts
weather and weather-related news 24 hours a day. The Weather Channel
is headquartered in Marietta, Georgia, near Atlanta.
It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Landmark Communications. In addition
to its cable TV programming, TWC also provides forecasts for terrestrial
and satellite radio stations, newspapers, and websites, and maintains
an extensive online presence at weather.com.
The Weather Channel went on the air on May 2, 1982. The channel
reports the weather and other meteorological information for the
United States as well as other countries and regions of the world.
TWC originally gathered its national region forecasts from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and gathered its
local forecasts from local National Weather Service offices, but
since 2002 has done local forecasting in-house from Marietta, Georgia.
However, current weather and forecast model data is still provided
by the National Weather Service, and the ultraviolet index and air
quality reports are from the Environmental Protection Agency. The
Weather Channel does not have any local meteorologists outside of
the Atlanta area.
The Weather Channel was the brainchild of former WLS-TV Chicago
chief meteorologist and Good Morning America forecaster John Coleman,
who took his idea to Landmark's then-chief Frank Batten.
In the early years of the network, there were many meteorologists
in their 20s and 30s, except for Charlie Welsh, Bill Schubert,
and hurricane expert John Hope.
The Weather Channel produces a service, based on modified versions
of WeatherStar technology, called Weatherscan on which a separate
channel constantly displays local and regional conditions and
forecasts along with The Weather Channel's logo and advertisements.
TWC's sister channel in Canada is The Weather Network in English
and MétéoMédia in French, which uses similar
technology that is currently in use in the USA. TWC also runs
websites in Brazil (Canal do Tempo), the United Kingdom (Weather
Channel), France and Germany . Apart from their stake in The Weather
Network/MétéoMédia, TWC only runs their US
channel, although it does air an international forecast.