Knowing the weather for tomorrow can be as simple as looking at the WCCO logo
By Leo Pomerenke
If you happen to be in Minneapolis walking by the WCCO building, there’s no need to look up what the weather is going to be the next day.
If that sounds strange, there’s some logic behind it. The CBS affiliate has a “Next Weather Tower,” which features their logo atop of their studio that has a weather color code.
If the WCCO logo is red, it means it will be hotter the next day. Blue means it will be colder, green meaning rain or snow, and white meaning no change in sight. The tower flashes if the weather change is something major, like a significant warm up or a blizzard.
So, who changes the color of the tower?
“Whichever meteorologist is working at the moment will change the tower when a weather change is coming,” said WCCO’s chief meteorologist Chris Shaffer. He also said that the tower can also be changed with a click of a button in the WCCO newsroom.
The Next Weather Tower was built by the radio and TV station in 2013.
“It was a throwback salute to the old Weatherball that was built in 1949 and sat atop the Northwestern National Bank building downtown Minneapolis,” Shaffer said. The weather ball was taken down after it caught fire in 1982.
If new Minnesotans don’t know about the color code, don’t be too embarrassed. Shaffer still runs into plenty of long-time Minnesotans who don’t know the meaning of the tower either.
“I didn’t know about that, and I go past that building every day,” said Minneapolis resident Sunny Shands. “I just thought they changed it based off of the time of day or something. It’s kind of neat, actually.”
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