Weather.com : temperature forecast, national and local

Weather.com is the official webpage of the Weather Channel, and it (the site) launched back in 1995. Upon hearing this, one might not think much of it. Sure, it’s a nice place to go for forecasts, but you wouldn’t think that it would serve much of a purpose beyond that. As it happens, such is not the case. There is a plethora of content and it covers a wide variety of subjects.

Sure, the website provides forecasts, both local and national, as well as alerts for upcoming severe weather, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are subpages that offer advice on what to do during various instances of extreme weather, such as a hurricane or tornado. They tell you how you can prepare as well as what to do both during and after the storms.

You can find articles about sports, health, fashion, and travel, among other things. Some articles do tie the content back into weather in some capacity, making it somewhat relevant to the premise of the website. One article, for example, gave tips to golfers who end up having to deal with wind. There is another article that provides tips on how to drive in extreme weather. You can also learn the effects of weather on fishing and get some tips on how to enjoy skiing despite weather that may not be conducive to the sport.

On the other side, there are articles that ditch the connection altogether and talk about things that you might find on any other content site or homepage. You can get tips on grilling, pet care, vacation destinations, and even health tips for things like allergies or flu shots.

The website has videos that provide tutorials on various home projects and offer tips for things like gardening, lawn care, and home maintenance.

There is an element of interactivity with the website, with one section being devoted to the more “social” aspects of the internet. Viewers can post pictures and videos to the website that could potentially be seen on air by viewers worldwide.

There’s even a blog section on the site, allowing people to post their own content. Oddly enough, this content puts far more emphasis on the weather than the actual articles do, make of that what you will.

Weather.com defies expectations by, not only delivering what you would expect, but by breaking barriers and giving visitors a lot more content to keep them around for longer periods of time and to give incentive for them to come back later. There are text articles, videos, and they even made the effort to give the site some level of interactivity. It really is impressive by all accounts.

Vincent Abry

Blogger on Technology, Social Media, Marketing and Science.