Weather Center Live - Program History

Program History

Weather Center debuted in 1998 and was originally a program devoted to hard weather. Weather Center aired almost 24 hours a day during its first few years. In 2000, with the additions of First Outlook and Your Weather Today, the program became a daytime and evening show only. Weather Center has been shortened since as more shows debuted, and by the end of 2008 it aired only an hour a day during the week.

In February 2009, The Weather Channel's media kit began showing a different logo for the program; the most notable change to come from this, however, was showing the program's name as Weather Center with Abrams & Bettes: Beyond the Forecast|Abrams & Bettes. Changes to electronic program guide systems revealed that Weather Center would absorb the repeating overnight hour on weeknights, and that Weather Center was becoming an evening program (which correlates to the merger of Evening Edition and A&B). The expansion of Weather Center reversed a trend of partitioning that took place between 1998 and 2003. The changes themselves are some of the most far-reaching since the 2003 addition of Day Planner, Afternoon Outlook, and Weekend Outlook, itself a casualty by being replaced by Weekend View.

From May 5 to June 12, 2009, Mike Bettes left the studio to report on the VORTEX 2 project, a project in which researchers spent five weeks in tornado alley hunting down tornadoes in an attempt to discover more information about the formation of tornadoes. Throughout the entire duration of the project, Bettes reported live in the field throughout every edition of Abrams & Bettes Weather Center except for a couple of days where the entire project took the day off due to lack of tornadic activity. Several editions of the show featured Bettes and the Vortex 2 crew actively chasing potential tornado-producing supercells, and on June 5, 2009, the crew caught its first and only tornado of the year live on PM Edition, the coverage of which spilled over into the beginning of Weather Center; both programs covered the entire tornado event commercial-free. While Bettes was gone in the field, Adam Berg filled his role in the studio.

On June 22, 2009, Stephanie Abrams and Mike Bettes moved to Your Weather Today. The final edition of Weather Center with Abrams & Bettes was a week and a half before on June 12, 2009; allowing Abrams and Bettes to take a week off from studio work prior to moving to mornings. This allowed Alexandra Steele and Jim Cantore to permanently take over their 7 p.m. ET timeslot on June 15, 2009; despite the fact that TV listing services such as Zap2it listed Cantore and Steele as taking over the show on June 22, 2009; the same day as Abrams and Bettes began hosting Your Weather Today. Kevin Robinson, a former host of Your Weather Today, began his role as a third host on the show on June 22, 2009. On the same day, Nicole Mitchell became Paul Goodloe's permanent co-host on the 10 p.m. ET edition of Weather Center. The 7-10 p.m. ET edition of Weather Center has a different name called Weather Center with Cantore and Steele with Jim Cantore and Alexandra Steele, similar to the morning show on The Weather Channel called Your Weather Today with Abrams & Bettes with co-hosts Stephanie Abrams and Mike Bettes.

In December 2009, Kevin Robinson left Weather Center with Cantore and Steele, to become a meteorologist at Cincinnati NBC affiliate WLWT-TV; Chris Warren became his replacement.

In late September 2010, Crystal Egger joined Weather Center as a full time co-host. Jim Cantore remains on the show reporting on breaking weather news from the newsroom. In September 2010, Weather Center co-host Alexandra Steele left the network, and later became an on-camera meteorologist for CNN in early 2011.

In November 2010, Nicole Mitchell left the program, and was replaced by Kelly Cass.

A major shift in TWC's evening programming began on January 31, 2011. Weather Center will only air three one-hour blocks each night(7-8pm, 10-11pm, and 1-2am). Also, beginning February 5, 2011, Weather Center began airing on the weekends as well. The weekday blocks are hosted by Chris Warren and Crystal Egger. The weekend blocks are hosted by Paul Goodloe and Kelly Cass.

In May 2011, Weather Center changed its on-air name and off-air branding to Weather Center Live. On November 16 of that year, Weather Center Live debuted the Winter Weather Update taking over the Tropical Update, which is usually on at :50 past each June to November. The segment lasted until March 24, and is now taken over by the Severe Weather Update. That segment lasts until the Atlantic hurricane season starts on June 1.

On March 26, 2012, Weather Center Live began airing at 4:00pm ET. On March 31, 2012, the weekend edition of Weather Center Live began airing at 4:00pm as well, thus effectively cancelling PM Edition Weekend.

On November 12, 2012, Weather Center Live started airing 5-7pm ET.

Weather Center Live is now anchored by Kelly Cass and Paul Goodloe Mon-Fri from 5PM-7PM. Crystal and Chris will have segments during the 6-7pm show. Chris and Crystal will anchor 7-8 and 10-11pm. Weather Center Live 1AM-2AM Mon-Fri with Kim Cunningham (SOLO)and 1-2 Thu-Fri with Todd Santos(SOLO). Weather Center Live 4-5pm On Sat and Sun is Hosted by Danielle Banks and Alex Wallace. Kim Cunningham and Todd Santos will Anchor Sat-Sun 7-8, 10-11, and 1-2.

When there is severe weather or any major weather event, Weather Center Live will air from 3:00pm–7:00pm with Paul Goodloe and Kelly Cass during the week and various meteorologists during the weekends, from 7:00pm–11:00pm is hosted by Chris Warren and Crystal Egger during the week and Todd Santos and Kim Cunningham during the weekends,and from 11:00pm–3:00am with Kim Cunningham or Todd Santos joined by a select meteorologist during the week and various meteorologists during the weekends.