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WeatherStar (sometimes rendered Weather Star or WeatherSTAR; "STAR" being an acronym for Satellite Transponder Addressable Receiver) refers to technology used by American cable and satellite television network The Weather Channel (TWC) for the purpose of displaying on-air localized weather forecast segments, currently referred to as Local on the 8s. Hardware used for WeatherStar systems over the years has varied in many ways, but all WeatherStar systems are rack-mounted computers installed at a cable company's headend. WeatherStar systems obtain weather data from a satellite receiver, process it, and display it on-air. A variety of this weather data is shown using WeatherStar systems, from local weather information to airport delays and weather bulletins.

Overview

Test

List of WeatherStar units

WeatherStar units currently in use are shown in bold.

Star version Star data type Released Decommissioned
WeatherStar I Analog May 1982 Unknown
WeatherStar II Analog 1984 1986 (Phased into III)
WeatherStar III/3000 Analog January 1986 December 31, 2004
WeatherStar 4000 Analog December 1989 June 26, 2014
WeatherStar Jr Analog 1993 June 26, 2014
WeatherStar XL Analog 3Q 1998 (Beta); 1Q 1999 (Final) June 26, 2014
Weatherscan XL Analog March 31, 1999 Q2-Q4 2004
IntelliStar 1 Digital 3Q 2003 (Beta); 1Q 2004 (Final) November 16, 2015
IntelliStar 1 Weatherscan Digital February 2003 (Beta), September 2003 (Final) In Use
IntelliStar 2 HD Digital July 2010 Unknown; Q1 2016 (Rumored)
IntelliStar 2 Jr. Digital October 2013 In Use
IntelliStar 2 xD Digital June 2014 In Use


List of unusual on-air phenomena on The Weather Channel

National anomalies

  • October 19, 2007 - During the Local on the 8s segment at 5:58pm CST, Vivian Brown is heard speaking over the music, saying, "Can anybody hear me? No. Do they have me going off the top? (inaudible) Ok. I don't hear anybody. So am I not going off the top or what? Huh?"
  • January 22, 2008 - Multiple anomalies, referred to as the "great meltdown" incident, related to a power outage at The Weather Channel's headquarters prior to midnight:
    • At 12:26am EST, around an hour and a half after the power outage, between commercials, a black screen appears while portions of the song "After Dark" by Dave Koz play.
    • Around 1:45am EST, a video documents that TWC had to switch icons on its emergency forecast feed to the previous set of icons, which was changed in 2007. Trammell Starks music plays in the background of the emergency feed. For approximately 30 seconds around that time, the feed cuts abruptly to a shot of the chroma key wall used by on-camera meteorologists. Commercials do not play during the length of the video, and it is assumed that they stopped playing sometime prior to that point.
    • Around 6:39am EST, a video documents that at that point, TWC was still cutting into its emergency feed to deliver live forecasts from on-camera meteorologists. At that time, Jen Carfagno is on-camera. Unusually, at 6:44, she erroneously states, "For now, here's your Local on the 8s!" before the emergency feed quickly returns.
    • Around 10:18am EST, a video documents that TWC had largely recovered from its meltdown, but still had issues with local forecast segment cueing and music playback. Commercials play as normal. During the 10:18 local forecast, the emergency feed plays and one song abruptly cuts off in favor of another.
  • December 15, 2008 - During the Local on the 8s segment at 11:28am EST, a portion of the intro to the song "Recall" by Mysteriam plays, beginning around 42 seconds into the song and ending around the 1:20 mark. The result is a screeching cacaphony of noises that sound like noisemaker toys playing during the first half of the local forecast. After the portion of the song plays, the rest of the local forecast runs silently (minus Vocal Local narrations). The incident is immortalized in a socool775 video entitled "TWC Local Forecast- The Most Bizarre 'Whachumacallit' Ever."
  • January 28, 2014 - During a live shot at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, a student, Colin Marcelli, runs into meteorologist Jim Cantore, who knees the student in the groin. The student then runs away behind Cantore. The video of the incident received millions of views in the days following the incident. When interviewed by a local news outlet, the student said that he "would do it again."
  • July 15 or 16, 2017 - During either that Saturday or Sunday's edition of AMHQ Weekend, a chyron screen entitled "Foods to Keep You Cool" shows the following bullet points: "MELONS, Mary, PINEAPPLE, CUCUMBER, TOMATOES, CELERY."

Local anomalies

  • May 19, 2009 - Well-known fandom personality The Weather Chazz captures a severe IntelliStar error in which almost all background images for the Local on the 8s segment appear black, as do maps. Following the forecast segment, when the lower display line (LDL) appears over live programming, the background to the LDL is missing and the entire screen—besides the LDL's weather and traffic data display, the upper bar of the line, and the logo—turns black.
  • June 23, 2010 - Unusual errors plague the IntelliStar unit for State College, PA, in one of the most extreme IntelliStar glitches ever documented, although only some of the glitches are recorded. Prior to a local forecast at 6:58pm EDT, multiple weather warning messages appear at once. During the local forecast (the portion documented), the unit begins erratic behaviors including repeated instances of forecast products, out-of-order products, narrations playing on top of each other, narrations playing during the wrong forecast products, cutting to the national forecast screen, and the local forecast playing on top of live tornado coverage. Besides lag, the severe thunderstorm warning crawl at the bottom of the screen at the time is unaffected. By 7:01pm, the unit begins to play the products normally beginning at the Getaway Forecast, cutting off in the middle of the text-based Local Forecast product at 7:02. The incident, according to Steve Z, the uploader of the video, is the result of the cable system rebooting the machine.