The Weather Channel – RetroCast | Hacker News Reader

The Weather Channel – RetroCast

weather.com

321 pointstypeofhuman61 comments

I love how it's built. How they did the blurring and filter stacking. I assumed the whole thing was being streamed in as video.

Good job Weather Channel dev. I just wish it would loop forever. Make a loop checkbox at the start screen.

Also the music slaps.

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.

I could be remembering wrong but I believe that's a (the?) track they actually used back when this was on TV

I can't remember either but they nailed it. When the sax comes in and the voice overlay hit's you with "Your extended forecast"; I'm right back in the kitchen before school eating cereal with the kitchen TV on the weather channel.

Edit: another comment mentioned it was generated with Suno

Wow; a win for Suno if true!

This. Please please make this loop!

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/

The one you posted works only for americans

Were the real things ever available outside of America?

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/

Got really confused why is my WinAmp was double decked there.

Thanks!

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

Ughhhh snow storm tomorrow

This is pretty neat. I think I probably get this transmission on Infochammel.

that one doesn't put my laptop to aspirate and it;s fast

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.

> 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.

That'll be a memory thing then, because unsurprisingly there are some serious Weather Channel nerds out there and the history of the local programming as well as the STARs that powered it is quite well documented.

The only thing that looked anything like this was the WS4000. WeatherStar III and Jr. didn't have graphics at all while WeatherStar XL had a much more modern graphic design.

If you want to nerd out on this stuff, here's a good link to start with: https://www.twcarchive.com/wiki/Weather_Star

The blurring/low quality effect in the weather.com version is so much convincing, it feels like watching it through a CRT tv

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)

weather.com/retro adjusted to my location based on ip. The one you linked does not allow non-US locations.

Edit: deleted, someone already mention non-US locations not working

This reminds me of a sports channel I recall from the late 80s on cable TV. Sportsnet? Sportswire? I can't find anything about it online but I remember the music well.

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

I have a old tv that I want to have this running , thinking of the cheapest way to get this playing (with new hardware prices increasing).

Probably still a rpi.

If you like the smooth jazz, I can't recommend Watercolors on Sirius XM highly enough! Basically this sound, but 24/7.

Great job. Thanks. Why the intermittant timed stop? Is it just to break it up since its a short clip? Like others have said, there are several projects recreating the old weather channel vibe, each with its own spin. And if you don't need current weather info, there are some good yt vids that play old clips with the music in the background.

The Weather Channel did (does?) a segment called "Local on the 8s," where it would play a brief local weather update like this one on time slots ending in 8, which this site replicates.

Got it. That also answers my question of "why 8 minutes?" Thanks.

This is really cool. But showing Fahrenheit, despite everything else is perfectly localized, for my home town Hamburg in Germany, is somewhat useless. Guys from the US, we use Celcius here! :-P

you can change the unit in settings, just click the gear on countdown page

Ah, nice, thank you very much. But it is impossible to reach the countdown page once you are in. So it is almost impossible to make the switch, because you notice the Fahrenheit thing only if it is too late. And it looses the setting after a reload..

Don’t miss the unmute icon in the lower right (at least on my browser).

But once you unmute, there is no way back...

Once you unmute, your browser should display a speaker icon for that tab, which you can use to mute the tab again.

Shameful plug, but I have a weather channel on channel surfer:

https://channelsurfer.tv/?ch=50

This is rad. Any info on running it on a small box for the living room? It would be perfect for my parents.

"This content is no longer available in your area"

What kind of sensitive thing is there that the page must be region-restricted?

As we get set to leave NATO, we are taking all our toys with us. No more weather for you.

Looks awesome, if only it used correct units.

You can change the units in the settings, accessible from the start screen

Interesting tidbit: According to the metadata embedded in the music, it was generated by Suno: https://weather.com/retro/assets/sound/music/neon-office-gli...

Title: Neon Office Glide Performer: 555indigo comment: made with suno; created=2026-03-31T19:07:49.773Z; id=f122d9dc-493a-4249-b7d7-3b4fd2995726 lyrics-eng: [Instrumental]

This hit the nostalgia hard. To complete this would be an IPTV feed to stream it through my TV. It would be nice to be able to wake up and put this on while eating breakfast.

This is so much better than their actual website.

why do i love this so much? nostalgia hitting hard these days.

This needs to be an Apple TV app!! Way more fun than watching fly by skyscrapers.

Get this man to Apple

Awesome, nice retro vibe. I used to build these channels back in the day in Scala Info channel (narrowcasting) for hospitals and radio stations etc. Would love to see a metric switch to C en km/h

> Would love to see a metric switch to C en km/h

You can change the units and location by clicking the gear icon next to the city on the screen it shows in between broadcasts.

Looks great on mobile in portrait mode. Bonus points for the audio.

So good. That music had me relaxing for 5' straight.

Well done. Added to my home screen. Imagine a daily smooth jazz weather report will soothe the soul nicely.

perfect to throw on a mini crt looking screen in the kitchen

OMG THIS BROUGHT ME WAYYYYYYYY BACK!!!!

Thank you so much, y'all!

Ah, that old soft jazz...

Now we just need gen AI weatherwoman with a really really bad bluescreen and have her show the 3d map rotating around randomly toward cities.

Music is so relaxing.

how to change language....mine's making me chinese

gah only simplified Chinese

only on the start screen - try a full refresh

Click the Gear icon on the bottom of the page to specify the Location, Units, and Language!

weather on the 8s

looks cool

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