Newspaper publishers in the United States have long been enthusiastic users + J& n9 { [8 ?0 m8 Y
and distributors of weather maps. Although some newspapers that had carried the 0 ^4 W9 q- A4 {% j
United States Weather Bureau's national weather map in 1912 dropped it once the 7 R+ F& C( O4 Y9 H" O
novelty had passed, many continued to print the daily weather chart provided by - ?: [; t& [( q/ O- z8 D
(5) their local forecasting office. In the 1930's, when interest in aviation and progress in
, ]8 D% K; R ], C. w" Q. t* }/ Jair-mass analysis made weather patterns more newsworthy, additional newspapers ; v0 W+ Y% j" n
started or resumed the daily weather map. In 1935, The Associated Press (AP) news ) @) M& a' e+ u L, l
service inaugurated its WirePhoto network and offered subscribing newspapers
, f' m3 R2 {" N& Bmorning and afternoon weather maps redrafted by the AP's Washington, B.C., office 9 x C! U+ {3 {! j
(10)from charts provided by the government agency. Another news service, United Press International (UPI), developed a competing photowire network and also provided ! \) }2 T; _: @ E U
timely weather maps for both morning and afternoon newspapers. After the United
# B1 y- d7 R' m6 h5 J! XStates government launched a series of weather satellites in 1966, both the AP and
( [+ o$ ], D. o, j4 _. @UPI offered cloud-cover photos obtained from the Weather Bureau.
$ F( X# i) y5 ]+ f8 C* c" s(15) In the late 1970's and early 1980's, the weather map became an essential / ^" w( b/ p# T& e8 c! C
ingredient in the redesign of the American newspaper. News publishers, threatened
# U# O3 b1 L: {6 cby increased competition from television for readers' attention, sought to package
7 L5 ?1 P8 y$ e1 Y: ?) P+ d, hthe news more conveniently and attractively. In 1982, many publishers felt 9 M, d6 y2 c% }! b9 j0 p
threatened by the new USA Today, a national daily newspaper that used a page-wide, % V/ Z6 \& T; ] {# k# [ j5 t
(20)full-color weather map as its key design element. That the weather map in USA 1 w! i& _* B2 g# ~) M3 y I
21 Today did not include information about weather fronts and pressures attests to the 8 f+ S2 ^* C7 l/ M1 c( k. U
largely symbolic role it played. Nonetheless, competing local and metropolitan 9 K$ j- F+ o' ~2 {5 ~( L
newspapers responded in a variety of ways. Most substituted full-color temperature # K9 I) c4 o$ @2 d# d% ?
maps for the standard weather maps, while others dropped the comparatively drab : D8 [8 O9 u. G! _: e7 S
(25)satellite photos or added regional forecast maps with pictorial symbols to indicate # D+ m# O( @ B+ l7 N" C
rainy, snowy, cloudy, or clear conditions. A few newspapers, notably The New York
& `$ _2 o F6 t/ {3 i# i. W" w$ wTimes, adopted a highly informative yet less visually prominent weather map that
! \+ ^( U: j4 J9 k1 Gwas specially designed to explain an important recent or imminent weather event. ) |0 r8 d' f% ^% }$ n4 \: x, d3 l n& \
Ironically, a newspaper's richest, most instructive weather maps often are
$ W) A5 ?6 d7 [3 e, P(30)comparatively small and inconspicuous. |