ColorGraphics Weather Systems was a

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...

company that pioneered the use of computer graphics for displaying

weather forecast Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th cent ...

s on local

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

. Formed in 1979 by Terry Kelly and Richard Daly, it is now part of

Weather Central Weather Central, LP is a Privately held company, private company that provides weather data and production tools to the media industry. It was founded in 1974 by Terry Kelly. The company has 180 employees and 70 meteorologists. It is the largest ...

, another of Kelly's companies.

History

After graduating from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

in 1971 with a degree in

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

, Terry Kelly took a job with

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

, television station

WKOW WKOW (channel 27) is a television station in Madison, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Allen Media Broadcasting. The station's studios are located on Tokay Boulevard on Madison's west side, and its transmitter is locate ...

calculating weather predictions. Over the next two years he introduced a number of new techniques to the industry, including using magnets to represent high and low points, color markers on a whiteboard for graphics, and later hand-photographing satellite cloud imagery with a Bolex camera to produce the first cloud-movement animations. Kelly and several of his colleagues also produced

weather forecasting Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th cent ...

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

. In 1974 he was promoted to chief meteorologist at WKOW, and at the same time started Weather Central to sell and operate their software for smaller organizations such as ski resorts and local highway departments. ColorGraphics was formed in 1979 as a partnership between Kelly and Richard Daly. Kelly and Daly had both worked in the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

's Space Science and Engineering department, developers of the McIDAS weather display system. McIDAS used downloaded satellite cloud cover images and superimposed them on locally generated maps. Designed for the

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 ...

, McIDAS was a high-end system well beyond the budget of a television station. Kelly's idea was to adapt the McIdas concept for lower cost home computer systems that were appearing in the late 1970s. Their first system, "LiveLine", was based on the

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

. Its graphics system could not be

genlock Genlock (generator locking) is a common technique where the video output of one source (or a specific reference signal from a signal generator) is used to synchronize other picture sources together. The aim in video applications is to ensure the ...

ed, so a TV camera had to be pointed at the screen to send the video into the production systems. This initial system was soon replaced by a similar one running on

Cromemco Cromemco was a Mountain View, California microcomputer company known for its high-end Z80-based S-100 bus computers and peripherals in the early days of the personal computer revolution. The company began as a partnership in 1974 between Harry ...

computers using a modified version of their Dazzler color-graphics card. In spite of its simplicity and low resolution, the fast production and "high tech" look caught on, and by the mid-1980s the system was almost universal, replacing bluescreen systems on cardboard maps that had previously been used. The company noted that 70% of the top 50 TV markets were using the system by 1982. By 1984 80% of all television stations in the country were using ColorGraphics system, built on Cromemco microcomputers, to generate weather, news, and sports graphics. In 1982 the company was purchased by Dynatech, an expanding electronics company. Dynatech purchased

in 1987 and rolled the two companies together, before divesting all of its media properties in the early 1990s. Kelly and Daly purchased the rights back from Dynatech in 1994, operating under the Weather Central name. In 1995 they introduced the new "GENESIS" platform on

Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and sof ...

computers, which later moved onto

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

workstations.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{cite book, first=Mike , last=Nelson , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05yxTU60z2kC&pg=PA302&dq=Colorgraphics+Weather+Systems , title=Colorado Weather Almanac , publisher=Big Earth Publishing , year=2007 , isbn=1555664016 , url-access=limited

External links

Weather Central, Inc.
1979 establishments in Wisconsin American companies established in 1979 1987 disestablishments in Wisconsin American companies disestablished in 1987 Defunct software companies of the United States Graphic software in meteorology Mass media companies established in 1979 Mass media companies established in 1987 Companies based in Madison, Wisconsin Software companies established in 1979 Software companies disestablished in 1987 1982 mergers and acquisitions