''A.M. Weather'' was an American weather news program that ran from October 30, 1978 to February 3, 1995. and was broadcast on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

member stations throughout the United States. The 15-minute daily program, which aired fifteen minutes before or after the hour (depending on the station's scheduling of the program) and was produced by

Maryland Public Television Maryland Public Television (MPT) is the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member state network for the U.S. state of Maryland. It operates under the auspices of the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission, an agency of the Maryland state govern ...

(MPT, or before 1984 the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting), featured detailed

forecasts Forecasting is the process of making predictions based on past and present data. Later these can be compared (resolved) against what happens. For example, a company might estimate their revenue in the next year, then compare it against the actual ...

presented by meteorologists from the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

(NOAA). While many other media outlets embraced computer weather maps and graphics in the 1980s for weather forecasting use, A.M. Weather held back on fully embracing computer graphics until 1991, although they did adapt to such graphics for satellite and radar maps in the late 1980s. The show's trademark yellow pointer was a mainstay of the program entire run.

Overview

The show's progression usually started with a

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

and

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

segment, followed by the current conditions around the U.S. (vice versa in early years), then the forecast (especially in terms of temperatures and

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

), followed by an aviation forecast (locations of MVFR and

IFR In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fly ...

, aircraft icing, turbulence and winds aloft) and ended (when necessary) with an inclement weather report, called "WeatherWatch" (the only time that the yellow pointer was not used). The program aired its final edition on February 3, 1995; one of the reasons behind ''A.M. Weather''s cancellation was that MPT wanted to expand on its morning business news enterprise with Bloomberg L.P. Hosts included NOAA meteorologists

Carl Weiss Carl Austin Weiss Sr. (December 6, 1906 – September 8, 1935) was an American physician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who assassinated U.S. Senator Huey Long at the Louisiana State Capitol on September 8, 1935. Career Weiss was born in ...

, Joan von Ahn and Wayne Winston, as well as H. Michael Mogil, Rich Warren, Dale Bryan and Barry Richwein. Other notable substitute hosts included: Regis Walter, Steve Zubrick (now the president of the National Weather Association), Gary Petti (a meteorologist with

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

and National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), now retired), and George Lessens (now the chief meteorologist at WZZM in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

). Funding was provided by various aviation-related companies and government agencies, including the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (and its Air Safety Foundation arm),

Phillips Petroleum Company Phillips Petroleum Company was an American oil company incorporated in 1917 that expanded into petroleum refining, marketing and transportation, natural gas gathering and the chemicals sectors. It was Phillips Petroleum that first found oil in the ...

, Gorman-Rupp pumps,

Hilton Hotels Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton. The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...

Corporation, the

National Business Aviation Association The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) is a non-profit, 501(c)(6) organization based in Washington, DC, United States. NBAA’s mission, according to the non-profit data and transparency organization GuideStar, is: “to foster an en ...

, Inc. (known at the time during the show's run as the National Business ''Aircraft'' Association), the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association, Showalter Flying Services (a

fixed-base operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, ...

in Orlando, Florida), Republic Airlines, and

Beech Aircraft Corporation Beechcraft is an American brand of civil aviation and military aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of Beech Aircraft Corporation, an American manufacturer of general aviati ...

, Combs Gates, among others.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1926366
''WeatherBrains'' retrospective with interviews of Joan von Ahn and Carl Weiss
Weather forecasting 1978 American television series debuts 1980s American television news shows 1990s American television news shows PBS original programming English-language television shows