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June 21, 2004

Dear AP Sounding Board:

We asked about your use of AP's twice-daily lists of temperatures/forecasts in more than 150 U.S. cities, from data provided by the U.S. Weather Service.

Of the nine responses, none said that BC-WEA-USTemps make it into print. Instead, outside vendors are the sources for weather charts and lists in your newspapers.

But several of you said the AP lists provide handy backup for the occasions when glitches occur in the data provided by weather vendors, or as references for staff-written weather stories.

AP Deputy Managing Editor Tom Kent commented: "We'll be studying the results and looking at smaller papers, too, in an effort to find the best way to serve everyone's weather needs."

Thanks for participating. Your answers follow:

— John Bartosek, managing editor, The Palm Beach Post:

"... we use an outside vendor for daily weather package. We still refer to AP weather data for occasional news stories, such as temps during droughts or rainfall during hurricanes, but so much of that material is available from other sources (Weather.com, National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center, etc.) that we'd put AP in the 'little-used' category now."

— David C. Kaminski, editor, The Repository, Canton, Ohio:

"Our weather report is purchased from AccuWeather. It has been many years since we used routine temperature and forecast reports from AP."

— Reed Eckhardt, managing editor, Wyoming Eagle-Gazette, Cheyenne:

"We use this lists little, if at all. DayWeather of Cheyenne is our vendor and main source of weather information. Weather graphic — a map of the state of Wyoming — is supplied by DayWeather."

— Steve Bell, managing editor, The Buffalo (N.Y.) News:

"We get a package from AccuWeather that we've customized and we just drop it in. We still get all the AP's weather data, and want to have that as backup, but on a day to day basis, we don't pay attention to the weather data from AP."

— Dave Bell, editor, Daily News, Los Angeles:

"Nobody ever uses this stuff."

— George Campbell, copy desk director, Arizona Daily Star, Tucson:

"When we redesigned four years ago, we stopped doing our own weather page and went with Weather Central. Thus, we don't use AP's temperature reports per se, except to check when there is a discrepancy, usually in the state temps or national high or low. It's nice to have them readily available when we need them so we don't have to search around the Web for individual sites."

— David Kordalski, AME/Visuals, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland:

"At The Plain Dealer, we do not use the AP versions of the temps. We get our weather package from Accuweather, and cities lists are part of that package."

— Mark Bowden, editor, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa:

"Our use of AP weather is primary for news coverage of weather events. The statistics, forecasts, etc. are provided from another vendor."

— Fred Zipp, managing editor, Austin (Texas) American-Statesman:

"We rely on another vendor."

Have a question the board should pose to AP? Send it to AP National Desk Editor David Minthorn at dminthorn@ap.org, who is coordinating the Sounding Board.

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