In the ’90s, The Weather Channel was peak background TV—blue screens, smooth jazz, and nonstop “Local on the 8s.” This was before apps, so if you wanted real-time radar or the five-day forecast, you tuned in. Early in the decade, they were still using the WeatherStar 4000, which cranked out those iconic low-res graphics with that blocky font everyone remembers. By the mid-’90s, they upgraded to the WeatherStar XL, giving us cleaner maps and animations that felt cutting-edge at the time. Shows like Weather Center and Storm Watch ran alongside live coverage of big storms, but honestly, most of us remember it for the quiet vibe and the scrolling local forecasts that made checking the weather weirdly comforting.