That akward moment...

[ChristofferB]

...when you realize you are becoming a true nerd about a subject:

I really wanted to have weather channel so I was surfing around my cable provider website and googling "weather channel <my cable provider>" and similar key phrases for quite some time, but couldn't find anything. I was getting a bit annoyed that my cable provider seems to have every channel except for that one!

After finally getting a search result I scrolled down and found the only relevant hit. It was a blog comment about pointless channels to have in your TV list, mentioning weather channel as the most extreme case.

I was first puzzled about this until I realized the obvious: Who else would ever be interested in US national weather...here in Sweden

Do you have any similar experiences?

ps. Didn't really know which sub-forum to post this misc-related but thought it would be fun to share.

 

[kmreid]

As a US citizen, I am not too reliant on The Weather Channel for numerous reasons. My biggest thing is that they offer too many "filler" shows that aren't really relevant to weather. I will always recommend that people watching tv for information pertaining to related severe weather updates, is to watch their local stations. Local news stations, more often than not, are far more likely to provide current warnings and watches and can narrow down the target areas, whereas TWC can barely keep up during a national outbreak. It is hard to cover several severe weather events when they span several states.

May I ask what interests you in TWC? If it is for current weather in the US, I can recommend a few sites, as can many members on here.

 

[Warren Faidley]

As a US citizen, I am not too reliant on The Weather Channel for numerous reasons. My biggest thing is that they offer too many "filler" shows that aren't really relevant to weather. I will always recommend that people watching tv for information pertaining to related severe weather updates, is to watch their local stations. Local news stations, more often than not, are far more likely to provide current warnings and watches and can narrow down the target areas, whereas TWC can barely keep up during a national outbreak. It is hard to cover several severe weather events when they span several states.

May I ask what interests you in TWC? If it is for current weather in the US, I can recommend a few sites, as can many members on here.

I cannot remember the last time I watched or relied on TWC during any kind of event, even a minor dust devil. They have become too "Weathertainment" and celebrity-driven which is partially the reason for their slow demise.

I suggest you follow live chases on assorted websites, or better, use the Internet to watch live local weather near the city where it is occurring. Most major cities go live when tornadoes threaten.

W.

 

[kmreid]

I cannot remember the last time I watched or relied on TWC during any kind of event, even a minor dust devil. They have become too "Weathertainment" and celebrity-driven which is partially the reason for their slow demise.

I suggest you follow live chases on assorted websites, or better, use the Internet to watch live local weather near the city where it is occurring. Most major cities go live when tornadoes threaten.

W.

I absolutely agree with you! I have lost all respect for TWC, but I was trying to avoid going that direction with my opinion on it. I also agree about the live streaming out there, but since OP lives in Sweden, I am not sure how that would work for him. I assume that some chasers eventually archive their footage, or post it to a youtube channel? The live weather footage from local stations is definitely the way to go if he can catch it!

 

[ChristofferB]

I think my main problem is that although most information is out there it is often quite difficult to know where to go. With Weather Channel I was hoping to see news and footages from where there have been any coverage. I assume most cool video shots etc will eventually end up there.

It's not that easy knowing exactly which local TV-channel to check out or which chaser that happen to broadcast with a webcam, although that would be preferable. I guess I could google "local tv channel <city closest to a warned storm>" and hope they have live coverage online. Weather Channel would be a bit simpler to have at home, but it obviously seems quite difficult

 

[kmreid]

Here is what I would do. I will type up a quick list of some states and their capitals that generally see tornadoes each year. You should be able to do a search in a search engine for news stations by typing in "Little Rock, Arkansas news station" (as an example) and it should bring up a list of options.

Arkansas, Little Rock
Colorado, Denver
Illinois, Springfield
Iowa, Des Moines
Kansas, Topeka
Louisiana, Baton Rouge
Minnesota, Saint Paul
Missouri, Jefferson City
Nebraska, Lincoln
North Dakota, Bismarck
Oklahoma, Oklahoma City
South Dakota, Pierre
Texas, Austin (although I would also check out San Antonio, El Paso and Amarillo for more coverage since the state is so large)

Those were just a few states, but there are many more that can see tornadoes annually. There are a lot of chasers that have live streaming of their chases, so maybe someone can recommend a few. I would check out http://severestudios.com/ as a good starting place.