News viewers can look forward to a fresh looking Weather Service from eNews from tonight. The new weather bulletins will feature enhanced graphics, interactive maps, a new look fly-over of the country and special features on key weather events affecting South Africa.

“We have upgraded our weather capabilities to prepare for future growth within our news company. This will be the first phase of many exciting new developments in the months ahead, including the launch of our online service,” says head of news, Patrick Conroy.

Chief meteorologist Derek Van Dam says the stations have “have formed a new partnership with Weather Central one of the largest weather data suppliers in the world. This will allow for greater flexibility and enables us to offer you more enhanced and more sophisticated graphics. This system has never been used in Africa before”.

Van Dam says the weather forecasts will not be radically different to what viewers currently see. “The design and structure of the forecasts are still very similar. One change is that the flyover of South Africa will now begin in KwaZulu-Natal and end in Gauteng. Currently viewers see the Northern Cape first with the flyover ending on the Western Cape”.

Van Dam adds, “We will add new and improved features as we continue to employ and train broadcast meteorologists throughout the year. There is more to come.”

The new look weather forecasts will be seen across all eNews offerings, namely: eNews Prime Time (e.tv), the eNews Channel (DStv channel 403), eNuus ( kykNET DStv channel 111) and the eNews Africa service.

Source: The Media OnLine