Oooh...I wonder how I could've missed this topic before. TWC's local forecast flavors could use a lot of improvement. Although I would have tweaked them a lot more, the lineups that debuted in December 2010 were very good; with the current conditions, 8-city, regional map, and almanacs having priority, it looked like a "meatier" local forecast.
While I'm temporarily in charge of everything Weather Channel-related
, I'd first cancel all long-form programming and have local forecasts airing on the 8s of every hour (:08, :18, :28, :38, :48, and :58). All local forecasts will be 120 seconds long (2 mins), except for the :58 flavor which will be 150 seconds long (2m 30s). Thus, no 90 or 60 second flavors exist under my system. All of these flavors assume it is an interior STAR (no marine forecast or tides), there are no traffic products, no record temperature screens, and that there are no NWS alerts. It also assumes that there is precipitation detected, so that the local doppler comes on. I've also added the satellite product as a regular feature on all STARS (it would be much more zoomed-out than the radar/satellite, like the current Satellite products on the West Coast).
The product and any additional notes are as follows. The time each product is on is in parentheses with (8s) meaning 8 seconds for example.
The :58 flavor (150 seconds):
Current Conditions (8s)
Latest Observations (12s)
Regional Doppler (8s)
Local Doppler (8s)
Satellite (8s)
Almanac (7s)
Second Almanac Screen (7s) (displaying moon phases, actual and average precip and snow for month to date)
Getaway Forecast (10s)
Daypart Forecast (8s)
Today's Forecast Regional Map (6s)
Tonight's Forecast Regional Map (6s)
Travel Cities Forecast (18s) (displaying three consecutive screens each containing 4 travel destinations in the STAR's general region (12 cities in total))
Local Forecast (48 hours) (32s)
The Week Ahead (12s)
The :08 flavor (120 seconds):
Current Conditions (8s)
Metro Current Conditions (6s)
Regional Current Conditions (6s)
Regional Doppler (8s)
Local Doppler (8s)
Almanac (7s)
Air Quality Forecast* (6s)
Getaway Forecast (10s)
Daypart Forecast (7s)
Today's Forecast Regional Map (5s)
Tonight's Forecast Regional Map (5s)
Local Forecast (48 hours) (32s)
The Week Ahead (12s)
The :18 flavor (120 seconds):
Current Conditions (8s)
Latest Observations (12s)
Regional Doppler (8s)
Local Doppler (8s)
Radar/Satellite* (8s)
Almanac (7s)
Second Almanac Screen (7s) (displaying moon phases, actual and average precip and snow for month to date)
Travel Cities Forecast (18s) (displaying three consecutive screens each containing 4 travel destinations in the STAR's general region (12 cities in total))
Local Forecast (48 hours) (32s)
The Week Ahead (12s)
The :28 flavor (120 seconds):
Current Conditions (8s)
Latest Observations (8-city) (12s)
Regional Current Conditions (6s)
Regional Doppler* (8s)
Local Doppler (8s)
Satellite (8s)
Almanac (8s)
Today's* Forecast Metro Map (6s)
Tonight's Forecast Metro Map (6s)
Today's Forecast Regional Map (6s)
Local Forecast (48 hours) (32s)
The Week Ahead (12s)
The :38 flavor (120 seconds):
Current Conditions (8s)
Metro Current Conditions (6s)
Regional Current Conditions (6s)
Regional Doppler (8s)
Local Doppler (8s)
Satellite (8s)
Outdoor Activity Forecast (8s) (replaced by the School Day Forecast in mornings when schools are in)
Today's Forecast Metro Map (6s)
Tonight's Forecast Metro Map (6s)
Today's Forecast Regional Map (6s)
Tonight's Forecast Regional Map (6s)
Local Forecast (48 hours) (32s)
The Week Ahead (12s)
The :48 flavor (120 seconds):
Current Conditions (8s)
Latest Observations (8-city) (12s)
Regional Current Conditions (6s)
Regional Doppler (8s)
Local Doppler (8s)
Almanac (7s)
Radar/Satellite (8s)
Daypart Forecast (7s)
Today's Forecast Metro Map (6s)
Today's Forecast Regional Map (6s)
Local Forecast (48 hours) (32s)
The Week Ahead (12s)
*Today's Forecast or the first forecast period available, i.e. if it's evening the Tonight's Forecast would appear first followed by the next day
*All radars have two loops, with a total runtime of 8 seconds
*All radar/satellite and satellite products display a 10-hour loop
*All air quality forecasts display three cities like West Coast STARS do today
