TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPIC: WEATHER ON THE WEB

True enough, it never rains in southern California. In fact, they don't even bother to have weather there at all. But back east where your OTHER fearless busdriver lives, we experienced high winds and show squalls today. If you've ever gone out without your umbrella then you need to read today's TOURBUS. We'll visit an array of weather-related websites and equip you for whatever Mother Nature decides to serve up.

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The Weather Channel

In addition to local weather maps and forecasts for thousands of cities around the world, The Weather Channel website offers many other useful features:

Download the free Desktop Weather software for Windows. The current

temperature for the city of your choice will show in your system tray. Click the icon, and Desktop Weather will display the latest weather conditions and forecasts. (Mac users: check out EarthBrowser at http://www.earthbrowser.com)

Sign up for Inbox Weather and they'll e-mail you the forecast daily.

Health-related weather info such as Pollen Reports, Air Quality Forecast,

Aches and Pains, and Skin Protection.

If you're planning a trip across the USA, look for the Interstate

Forecast planner before you go. You'll find color-coded maps showing weather conditions for cities along your way, and printable 10-day forecasts along the major U.S. interstate highways.

http://www.weather.com

BBC Weather Centre

Weather forecasts for the UK and cities around the world. You can also check out the World Skiing Guide, the Weather Quiz, Fact Of The Day, and (for serious weather nerds) the Weather Chatrooms.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather

Weather Picture of the Day

Worth visiting just for the photo of the World Trade Center being struck by a massive lightning bolt. There are also cool pictures of hurricanes, tornados, cloud formations, rainbows, sunrise/sunsets, and other weather phenomena. You can also get the Weather Picture Of The Day delivered to your email inbox each day, free of charge.

http://www.weatherpictureoftheday.com

National Severe Storms Laboratory

The National Severe Storms Laboratory is an internationally known research laboratory, leading the way in investigations of all aspects of severe weather. NSSL's Weather Room provides information for kids and adults. Learn the what, where, whys, and hows on tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning, and thunderstorms. There are also resources for teachers to print and use for weather education in the classroom.

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov

Add Weather to Your Website

Got a boring website? You can add free weather info from a variety of weather sites by pasting in a snippet of HTML code. Try these to see which one works best for your site:

* Weather Underground offers many options, colors, shapes, transparent backgrounds, sun & moon info.

http://www.wunderground.com/about/faq/weathersticker.asp

* Weather Channel offers the Weather Magnet plugin.

http://weather.com/oap

Other Weather Websites

AccuWeather offers local forecasts for cities worldwide, and a wide range of weather information. Want weather info delivered to your wireless device? Check it out here.

http://www.accuweather.com

Intellicast is yet another weather infomation site, but their radar and satellite maps are excellent.

http://www.intellicast.com

Weather Underground is noteworthy because it offers historical weather data, astronomical info, and links to personal weather stations operated by individuals in your area.

http://www.wunderground.com

The Information Please Almanac has tons of weather facts, including Climate, Weather Extremes, Weather Disasters and Meteorology.

http://www.infoplease.com/weather.html

That's all for now, I'll see you next time! --Bob Rankin