The Throwback Environment Canada Weather Channel
A fan-made, live-data tribute to the 1990s Environment Canada cable weather channel, originally Winnipeg's and now for 14 Canadian cities: the green crawl, the red and blue pages and the live clock, rebuilt in the browser and fed with today's open weather data.
The Throwback Environment Canada Weather Channel is a fan-made tribute. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by Environment and Climate Change Canada or the Government of Canada. For official forecasts and warnings visit weather.gc.ca.
Cities
Pick a city on the first visit, or with Change city. Your choice is remembered in this browser. Each city has its own link: Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Québec City, Fredericton, Halifax, Charlottetown, St. John's, Yellowknife and Iqaluit. The clock and the hourly update follow each city's local time.
Data
Weather data: Environment and Climate Change Canada (MSC open data, Open Government Licence – Canada) and the U.S. National Weather Service (api.weather.gov). News headlines: ECCC public weather alerts and ECCC news releases (Canada News Centre). Weather values are fetched on page load and then once an hour, shortly after Environment Canada's hourly observation (about :08); alerts and headlines refresh every 15 minutes. Values may be delayed or incomplete. Missing values are shown blank or as N/A, never invented.
Music: Internet Archive Great 78 Project
The optional background music is a playlist of 78 rpm records from 1920–1924, digitized by the Internet Archive Great 78 Project. Recordings published in 1925 or earlier are in the public domain in the United States. Files are re-encoded to 128 kbps with loudness normalised, hosted on this site, and played in shuffled order, with a classical interlude (below) after every two or three records. Music is off until you turn it on with the ♪ Music button (or click the picture / press M); your choice is remembered in this browser.
- “Africa” – Original Memphis Five (1924, Perfect) · archive.org
- “I Ain't Never Had Nobody Crazy Over Me” – The Broadway Syncopaters (1923, Vocalion) · archive.org
- “Bee's Knees” – The Original Memphis Five (1922, Banner) · archive.org
- “Shake Your Feet” – Original Memphis Five (1923, Banner) · archive.org
- “Paprika” – Pacific Coast Players (1924, Grey Gull) · archive.org
- “Corn on the Cob” – Banta & Hess with Selvin's Orchestra (1923, Vocalion) · archive.org
- “Tea for Two” – University Sextette (1924, Lincoln) · archive.org
- “Burning Sands” – Vincent Lopez and His Hotel Pennsylvania Orchestra (1922, Okeh) · archive.org
- “Aggravatin' Papa” – Vincent Lopez and His Hotel Pennsylvania Orchestra (1922, Okeh) · archive.org
- “Upright and Grand” – Frank Banta and The Ambassadors (1923, Vocalion) · archive.org
- “Wigwam” – Joseph Samuels' Orch. (1920, Actuelle) · archive.org
- “Nightingale” – Frisco Syncopators (1924, Puritan) · archive.org
- “A Kiss in the Dark” – Clark's Marimba Orchestra (1923, Banner) · archive.org
- “Ain't We Got Fun” – Metropolitan Dance Orchestra (1921, Regal) · archive.org
- “Charleston Crazy” – Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra (1923, Vocalion) · archive.org
- “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” – Carlton Dance Players (1922, Grey Gull) · archive.org
- “Memphis Glide” – Original Memphis Five (1923, Perfect) · archive.org
- “12th Street Rag” – Imperial Marimba Band (1921, Edison) · archive.org
- “Dardanella” – Harry Raderman's Jazz Orchestra (1920, Edison) · archive.org
- “It Had to Be You” – Harry Raderman's Dance Orchestra (1924, Edison) · archive.org
- “St. Julien” – Coliseum Military Band (1924, Coliseum) · archive.org
Musopen recordings via Wikimedia Commons
Between every two or three records the playlist plays one short classical piece. These are recordings from Musopen, a non-profit library of public-domain music, downloaded from their copies on Wikimedia Commons, where each is marked public domain. They are re-encoded to 128 kbps with the same loudness normalisation as the records. Thanks to Musopen and its performers.
- “String Quartet in D major, Op. 64 No. 5 'The Lark': I. Allegro moderato” – Joseph Haydn; performed by Musopen String Quartet · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
- “String Quartet in D major, Op. 64 No. 5 'The Lark': IV. Finale. Vivace” – Joseph Haydn; performed by Musopen String Quartet · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
- “String Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K. 421: III. Minuetto (Allegretto)” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; performed by Musopen String Quartet · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
- “Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46: III. Anitra's Dance” – Edvard Grieg; performed by Musopen Symphony · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
- “The Four Seasons, Spring, RV 269: I. Allegro” – Antonio Vivaldi; performed by The Modena Chamber Orchestra · Public Domain Mark 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- “Concerto for 2 Mandolins in G major, RV 532: I. Allegro” – Antonio Vivaldi; performed by The Modena Chamber Orchestra · Public Domain Mark 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- “Piano Sonata No. 16 in C major, K. 545 'Sonata facile': I. Allegro” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; performed by Musopen (performer not named) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
- “Orpheus in the Underworld: Overture, can-can section” – Jacques Offenbach; performed by Musopen · Public domain (CC PD) · Wikimedia Commons
Credits
Crawl font: Barlow Condensed (SIL Open Font License 1.1). Page font: hand-built bitmap font.