About a month ago, The Weather Channel celebrated its 20th birthday. At about the same time, they made a subtle but noteworthy change in the weather forecasts that they report to you.

For many years, The Weather Channel has used the National Weather Service forecasts, word for word, as the so-called "local forecasts" they show every ten minutes. This is no longer the case - the local forecasts are now prepared directly by The Weather Channel by blending various computer model forecasts, which are then sometimes modified by meteorologists. This hybrid forecast data is then processed to generate the written forecasts you see on TV.

This is a fundamental shift away from using the already-existing local expertise and infrastructure of the National Weather Service, toward a more computerized weather forecast system. At the very least, this deserves careful scrutiny to see if there's any change in the accuracy of the forecasts.