WEATHER FOR DAILY AND WEEKLY PAPERS
The Skywatch Weather Center can
provide graphics and text for traditional newsprint publications, whether you
publish daily or weekly. Our staff of meteorologists and graphic artists can
design layouts that you would want to see in your publication. This page shows
the type of elements we might include in a daily newspaper. You can look at JPG
examples of actual daily and weekly layouts, by clicking
here.

National Weather
The Skywatch Weather Center provides daily
maps of forecast high temperatures, forecast low temperatures, and actual
weather. These maps are updated twice a day, so that you get the most recent
information whether you go to press in the morning or evening. One of these maps
will be the center of attention on your weather page. A verbal description of
the weather affecting the nation usually accompanies the map, and describes the
dynamic weather patterns across the country.

Local Forecast Products
Much of the information that shows up on a
weather page is local or regional information. The most important feature is a 5
Day Forecast or 7 Day Forecast, which gives weather
conditions and high and low temperatures for the readership area of the
newspaper. A Pittsburgh newspaper reader will expect to see a local weather
forecast for Pittsburgh and vicinity, with regional information from the
tri-state area (Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio).
Daily newspapers typically run a 5
Day Forecast, which is updated each day that the paper is printed. A
weekly publication, on the other hand, usually presents a 7 Day Forecast, which
is the only information available until the next issue is published, after a
week. Most readers realize that the first few days of these multiday forecasts
are the most accurate, as forecast information becomes less reliable the further
you go into the future.

Regional Outlook
While the U.S. map has tremendous eye
appeal, it cannot provide you with an accurate forecast for any specific
location. The data smoothing necessary to produce an esthetically pleasing map
of the continental United States does not allow for enough detail in any
specific area. The Regional Outlook map provides the detail you
want for specific cities in your region. A verbal description of the weather
gives a thumbnail sketch of what weather to expect over the next 12 to 24 hours.
Browse through the example
weather pages to see additional methods of displaying regional forecasts.

National Cities
 |
Business travellers want
detail on the weather for specific travel destinations. They can get this
from the AROUND THE NATION listing of cities. This product
tabulates weather conditions and high and low forecast temperatures,
"today" and "tomorrow", for up to 160 major U.S.
cities. Usually, this detailed list is used when 1/2 page or more is
devoted to the weather page. It can take up considerable space, even when
rendered in a small font. Skywatch Weather page layouts will match up
column lengths and the number of cities to meet your needs. You get to
choose which cities appear in your paper.
Many people in the reading area of a newspaper
are planning trips on any given day, so the national city list gives them
an idea of the current weather and a forecast for the cities they expect
to visit. Even if their specific destination is not listed, some major
city within 50 to 100 miles will be included, providing an indication of
the weather that can be expected.
An alternative presentation of available data
includes actual high and low temperatures and the precipitation amount for
"yesterday", along with a forecast of sky conditions, high and
low temperatures for the current day. |
Local Site Statistics
 |
The Almanac
gives all sorts of local weather and climatological data for a specific
locale. The weather junkie who thrives on statistics gets recharged on the
information tabulated here. Included are a summary of the temperatures for
the preceding day, such as high, low and mean temperatures, the normal for
the day. During winter, we'll report a wind chill temperature and the
heating degree-days. Summertime that changes to "feel-like"
temperatures and cooling degree-days. Another section reports the amounts
of precipitation for the day, month and year, along with a comparison with
normal conditions. Sunshine amounts, sunrise and sunset times, moonrise
and moonset times are all available. If your local is affected by high
winds, the maximum sustained winds and peak wind gusts can be a regular
feature of the complete Almanac listings. |
 |
The Phases of the Moon
commonly appear in the Almanac portion of the weather page. The normal
method of listing the next four phases, along with the date on which they
occur, means that the pictures rotate on a biweekly basis throughout the
year. |
 |
Regional Highs and Lows cover
cities and towns of interest in the states surrounding your city. These
temperatures are the actual highs and lows for the previous day, as
recorded at National Weather Service reporting locations. The list of
cities is more extensive than is available on the National Cities
list for the states in the region. The cities shown on the Regional
Outlook map also show up on this list, so that yesterday's actual
temperatures at a specific city from the list can be compared with today's
forecast high and low temperatures on the map. |
 |
Marine Forecasts give
a forecast of wind and weather affecting stretches of the coast. Wind
speeds in these forecasts are given in knots rather than miles per hour,
because nautical enthusiasts are most likely to read and use this
information. The height of waves (or "seas") are noted in feet.
Most mariners are aware of how combinations of wind direction and strength
will affect wave action, and use these forecasts to avoid conditions
beyond the capabilities of the boat (and its captain). |
 |
Tide Tables are a
natural adjunct to the marine forecast, for newspapers located in coastal
cities. Swimming, fishing, surfing, sailing and other water activities are
affected by tides. These tide tables are always created specifically for
the newspaper's area of interest. Daily papers typically carry "today
and "tomorrow" data, while weekly papers cover the full week. |
Other Features
Additional products are available to
display information such as Air Pollution indices, Pollen or
Allergen counts, summertime Tanning Index, Telephone
Access Lines for local weather information, the National and State high
and low Temperature Extremes, hourly temperatures and relative
humidity for "yesterday" in tables or graph format, and World
Temperatures at cities around the world.
Color and Black & White examples
are accessible from this webpage. As these examples are rendered in JPG format,
for rapid downloading by your browser, these graphics do not display as well as
the actual products.
Weather
Page Examples
Skywatch Weather Center can develop a
comprehensive weather package to meet your needs. Contact us for more
information, and to arrange for the download of production quality examples.
Call us at 1-800-SKYWATCH (1-800-759-9282).
For more information contact our webmaster
or call us at 1-800-SKYWATC(H) 1-800-759-9282
Copyright © 2016, Air Science Consultants, Inc.