Weather Watch

One feature that defines teletext is the weather map. British people always want to know what the weather's like and teletext has always provided a facility for this. This is a trawl through teletext history as demonstrated by weather maps.

Ceefax, 1973 test page. The one that started it all.

Ceefax 1978. Not much difference but the map seems to have had a redraw.

Ceefax, 1985. Seven years on and the map looks a bit more like a television broadcast weather map, complete with blue sea. The title has been redesigned with readability instead of space efficiency. Parts of Scotland get excluded and Ireland is reduced to but a squiggly yellow line.

Ceefax, 1990. Notice the 'weather' title is gone to make way for some more textual bits of information. The page now credits the Met Office. Southern Ireland now completely gone! Very psychedelic, a bit like one of Fred's sweaters.

Sky weather, 2002. The map is squeezed into a smaller area although all the content is still there. Notice the cluttered pages due to commercial elements.


Ceefax weather, 2007. The somewhat eye-watering blue background is gone and the overall map is reminiscent of Sky's. Plenty of room for textual information and weather warnings.

Digital TV weather service, 2002. Standardisation complete. The blocky map has gone in favour of standard weather iconography and photographic quality. Page starting to look like a static version of the TV broadcast weather (right). A long way from the original teletext page - at least Ireland will be happy the BBC now acknowledges its existence.

Source

• Teletext then and Now