THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407090015
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Here's my forecast for the week ahead: highs and lows, sun and clouds - and a few changes on the color weather package.
Starting Tuesday, the fronts will be back on a separate map. And there will be another feature: the new Ultraviolet (UV) Index, a daily reading of the risk posed by the sun's harmful rays.
The map, if you've forgotten, is the one showing high and low pressure systems across the country as well as warm, cold and stationary fronts. That map was dropped when The Weather moved from its black-and-white box on page A4 to an expanded color format.
(Remember, on Sundays you'll find the weather on the front of the second A section. The rest of the week, it's on the back of the Metro section.)
To many readers, fronts and systems don't mean much and just make weather reading more complicated. So art director Jeff Glick decided to leave them out when he designed the new weather package.
In their place he added a regional weather map and two smaller maps showing nationwide temperatures and precipitation.
But pilots, boaters, teachers and weather junkies let us know from the start that they missed the frontal systems, an indicator of weather movement around the country.
``Your new package is very artistic, with all the colors, but us weather watchers need that map,'' said Lawrence Heyworth of Virginia Beach. A retired naval officer and avid golfer, he used the old weather map to plan his day or week.
Sandra W. Lee wanted the map for her Earth Science class at Booker T. Washington High in Norfolk. ``We use the high and low frontal system map to teach the kids how to tell which way weather systems are moving,'' she said.
And then there are boaters like Walter Bisek and his son Craig. Both members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, they like to do their own weather forecasting and felt they got a better overall picture when they could see the systems for themselves.
So, if you never really looked closely at these features before, you might want to check them out next week. You'll find the new map alongside the other two U.S. maps already in the package, the ones showing temperatures and precipitation.
Tuesday will bring a few other changes to the 5-week-old weather package. Most importantly, for this time of year, will be the new Ultraviolet Index just introduced by the National Weather Service. It's a guideline for safe exposure to the sun.
The UV index, which is on a 0-to-10+ scale, will look like the one below but slightly smaller and in color. In this sample (it does not reflect today's index!), the reading of 7 shows a fairly high intensity of ultraviolet radiation and means you shouldn't be exposed to the sun for more than 15 minutes.
Other weather-page alterations include lighter colors on the regional map for easier reading (another pointed suggestion from readers) and a clearer label over today's forecast (instead of ``Hampton Roads Forecast'' it will say ``Today's Local Forecast'').
To make room for the new features, there will be one sacrifice: a shorter list of world cities. But Glick consulted with C.I. Travel so the new list will include the top 30 international destinations from Norfolk.
Of all the changes, I'm particularly glad we're adding the UV index, though I didn't get a single reader inquiry about it. Skin cancer is a serious risk - even the little Coppertone girl has covered up - and this is a beach resort area.
But I'm also glad to see the newspaper respond to reader requests for the weather fronts. Now, if only we can keep those hurricanes off the map. . . .
MEMO: Call the public editor at 446-2475, or send a computer message to
lynn(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
by CNB