Weatherscan (originally called 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," "The Local Doppler Radar," and "Your Local Forecast."

Weatherscan is available in most top markets around the US, including the Chicago area, Detroit, Metropolitan Pittsburgh, the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Although most cable headends (except Verizon FiOS) only offer Weatherscan on their digital cable lineup, a few cable headends also have the channel on their basic cable lineup.

Weatherscan's Packages

Weatherscan IntelliStar from September 2005 until December 2006

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.

Weatherscan Timeline

The present look of Weatherscan

1999

Weatherscan Local debuts, showing only a 2 minute long local forecast back to back. The only song that was used was "Fair Weather" by 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, airports, 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. A few cable headends didn't get this update until late 2002.

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 27, 2003

Weatherscan Local has been simplified to "Weatherscan" and has received completely 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 gives you this special message because of severe weather in your area".

An "advertisement crawl" has been added to select area Weatherscans.

Weatherscan gets new music, now featuring tracks by unknown production music companies.

The narration by Allen Jackson is replaced with female narration by Amy Bargeron.

The narration for the 36 hour forecast is changed from "the forecast for your area" to "your local forecast."

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.

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.

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.* Some icons, such as "AM Clouds/PM Sun" and the nighttime "Mostly Clear" are updated so they are indistinguishable to the icons on the IntelliStar.

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 heading.

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.

The Weatherscan in Frankfort, Kentucky had a travel forecast for 2 weeks then was never seen again

September 27, 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.

Note: Areas that were in Hurricane Rita's path received this Weatherscan update about a week earlier.

December 2005

A traffic.com advertisement graphic is added at the end of the traffic report segment.

The narration for the "traffic flow" screen is removed.

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.

August 2006

Due to the discontinuation of P. Allen Smith's garden segments on The Weather Channel, the P. Allen Smith advertisement at the end of the garden segment is replaced with a generic weather.com/garden advertisement.

December 12, 2006

Weather icons that have been in use on Weatherscan from 1999-2006 were replaced by more realistic icons. * The slashes for phrases such as "Partly Cloudy/Wind" on the extended and daypart forecasts are replaced by commas (e.g. "Partly Cloudy, 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 removed from the mini-radar in the corner of the screen.

May 22, 2007

The radar legend becomes interactive with the precipitation. The snow and mix color keys now only display if frozen precipitation is detected.

June 2007

In some areas, the traffic segment, specifically the traffic overview map, is temporarily discontinued due to a low coverage area, affecting areas like Indianapolis. Major markets, like Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Pittsburgh aren't affected.

October 8, 2007

It is announced that a pending update will be beta tested on two units, one in Pittsburgh, the other near Philadelphia. This update will introduce some road map changes to Weatherscan. The national update will roll out 10/16/07.

October 16, 2007

As with the domestic Intellistar, it's announced the Weatherscan update (for base maps only) has been pushed back a week for debugging.

October 24, 2007

The road update that was pushed back October 16 is installed. This update only adds roads to Weatherscan's base maps.

November 5, 2007

Several new songs were added to the music loop.

January 22, 2008

Weatherscan is repaired after a power outage knocked the loop off time.

National Feed

Weatherscan's national feed from December 2000.

Since Weatherscan Local's debut, there has been a national version of this channel that is used for satellite companies and smaller cable companies that can't afford Weatherscan Local. This channel features current temperatures and the forecast for the next several days for select cities throughout the United States, as well as national and regional radar images. This channel is named simply Weatherscan. There is uncertainty whether or not the national version was discontinued. However, since Weatherscan Local simplified its name to "Weatherscan" in 2003, it is likely that the national feed was discontinued during or around that time.