Smooth jazz. Green screens. Jim Cantore’s hair was on his head instead of his face. (The beard works for him, though.) Weather all day, every day, without a hint of hype or those ridiculous storm names. It was a successful experiment that raised a generation of scientists and likely saved countless lives. Even people who don’t care about the weather admit that The Weather Channel of the 1990s was the height of television excellence.

The yearly ritual of the whiny television viewer is in full swing as severe weather season roars with a vengeance. When tornadoes touch down, local news stations have to preempt programming to warn people so they don’t die, but that interferes with Very Important Programs like Days or football. Many viewers argue that their neighbors have no right to receive warnings if it means cutting-in during a crucial episode of The Big Bang Theory. They are wrong.

Verizon FiOS unceremoniously dumped The Weather Channel from its cable lineup this morning, opting to provide subscribers with AccuWeather's new 24/7 weather network in lieu of the Atlanta-based weather behemoth. The move comes a year after the network went through an ugly public brawl with DirecTV.

Avid news watcher and "consultant" Andrew Tyndall called ABC News meteorologist Ginger Zee a "pornographer" on Friday because she spends all her time on television talking about the weather instead of using her weather segment to talk about climate change. What nerve she has for doing her job!

No credible agency in the United States names winter storms. That being said, The Weather Channel sent out a press release this morning announcing this year’s list of winter storm names. The project continues the network’s incredibly clever viewer-run advertising campaign.

I knew the tornado outbreak across the south on Monday was bad, but damn.

Two reporters for Canada's The Weather Network were blown away by the ferocious blizzard that pounded the Maritimes yesterday, packing wind gusts of over 100 MPH in this Nova Scotian town just before the reporters were knocked off-camera. They were able to quickly get up and hobble back to their spot to finish the report.