This appears to be a fairly low effort simulation of a WeatherStar 4000, but it's been done much better by someone else here: https://weatherstar.netbymatt.com/
Also for those of us like me who grew up with a cable provider that still ran the old WeatherStar III, there's this one: https://weatherstar3000.netbymatt.com/
This may be an age or geography thing, but Weather.com/Retro looks a lot more like the weather channels I remember than either of your two links.
I don't think they were trying to recreate the thing you were expecting, but it seems a little harsh to call it low effort. It's neat! A fun little nod to their history.
As others have stated, no, this isn't a simulation of WeatherStar. It does, however, look exactly like the weather channel did when I was a kid. (New Jersey and Maryland, in the 80s and 90s)
Because, IIRC (it has been a while since I’ve looked at the code) it grabs weather from the US National Weather Service… which is also a primary source of data for the original WeatherStar.
It’s useful for this purpose because all of the data is in the same format as the original down to the different forecast types and phrasing used
I agree. It's really cool. I wonder if this was written with AI assistance. Seems like the perfect kind of fun project that a dev team would really be able to crank out pretty quickly whereas five years ago, there might not have been time or budget for something like this.
It's nearly perfect. My only complaint is I wish it would keep playing on repeat, and rotate through more smooth jazz. Then I could have this on a screen in my living room, fall asleep on my couch in a snuggie, and wake up to its garish light and jazz at 3am just like old times
Also for those of us like me who grew up with a cable provider that still ran the old WeatherStar III, there's this one: https://weatherstar3000.netbymatt.com/
I don't think they were trying to recreate the thing you were expecting, but it seems a little harsh to call it low effort. It's neat! A fun little nod to their history.
It’s useful for this purpose because all of the data is in the same format as the original down to the different forecast types and phrasing used
Either way, thanks to the wonders of open source here's a fork that works for other parts of the world: https://mwood77.github.io/ws4kp-international/
Thanks!
Good job Weather Channel dev. I just wish it would loop forever. Make a loop checkbox at the start screen.
Also the music slaps.
What kind of sensitive thing is there that the page must be region-restricted?