Do you want a seven-day weather forecast for your ZIP code? Or hour-by-hour predictions of the temperature, wind speed, humidity and chance of rain? Or weather data beamed to your cellphone?
That information is available for free from the National Weather Service
But under a bill pending in the U.S. Senate, it might all disappear.
The bill, introduced last week by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., would prohibit federal meteorologists from competing with companies such as AccuWeather and The Weather Channel, which offer their own forecasts through paid services and free ad-supported Web sites.
Of course, these companies get their forecasts from the NWS, so taxpayers would be supporting their businesses with no renumeration.
If anyone would like to contact Senator Rick "man-on-dog" Santorum his number in Washington is 202-224-6324. Give him a call and tell him to stop supporting corporate welfare. AccuWeather is one of his supporters.
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