After 23 years, Weather Channel’s iconic computerized channel is shutting down
After 23 years, Weather Channel’s iconic computerized channel is shutting down

          
          

    
              
                
              
                Mike Bates displayed an Intellistar computer running Weatherscan (blue unit, left) and a Weather Star XL (right) at VCF Midwest this year, along with other hardware and TV station simulations.
                                  
                              
            
                  
          
    
    
      Mike Bates displayed an Intellistar computer running Weatherscan (blue unit, left) and a Weather Star XL (right) at VCF Midwest this year, along with other hardware and TV station simulations.

              
          Credit:

                      
          
          Mike Bates

                      
                  
          
  
        
            

The Weather Channel amassed a large fan following over the decades, and that community maintains a wiki filled with intricate details about beloved on-air talent, discontinued programs, and the back-end tech that pulls it all together. It's that deep lore that inspires hobbyists like Bates to try to preserve the equipment. "At the end of the day, we are not only preserving the hardware and software that we are nostalgic for, but also that which made The Weather Channel what it once was."
Recently, during the pandemic, Bates reverse-engineered an earlier Weather Channel computer called the Weather Star 4000. During the 1990s, it provided on-screen computer forecasts until just before Weatherscan launched in 1999, although some units still hung on as late as 2014. The Weather Star software inspired its own wave of nostalgia, including simulators that mimic its distinct retro look.

    
              
                
              
                An Intellistar computer system that can run the Weatherscan TV service.
                                  
                    Credit:
                                          Mike Bates
                                      
                              
            
                  
          
    
    
      An Intellistar computer system that can run the Weatherscan TV service.

              
          Credit:

          
          Mike Bates

                  
          
  
        
            

However, getting Weatherscan to run locally was a team effort, primarily by friends named Ethan, Brian, and Jesse. One of the Intellistar computer models behind the service runs FreeBSD on a Pentium 4-based PC in a blue rack-mount enclosure. It includes an ATI card for generating the graphics and a proprietary PowerPC-based card that pulls it all together to make it broadcast-ready.
To get Weatherscan working at home, the group of friends found decommissioned Intellistar units on eBay and used forensic tools to reconstruct data from the hard drives, piecing together a working version of the Weatherscan software from multiple sources. Since then, they have exhibited their work at shows like the Vintage Computer Festival Midwest last month.

    
    
      A video by Mike Bates featuring restoration of an Intellistar computer system.

          
  

The announcement of Weatherscan's impending demise came in a letter to the National Content & Technology Cooperative (NCTC) in mid-September. A few alternative TV weather services remain, such as AccuWeather National and WeatherNation, but none will have that smooth jazz charm. Even so, the soul of Weatherscan will still live on thanks to fans like Bates.
"It's an iconic thing that was kind of long forgotten about except for enthusiasts," says Bates. "But the way we consume content has changed drastically. It's the end of an era."


          
                  