The Weather Line Is Saved...and Has Moved to 202-589-1212

I woke up this morning to the unfortunate sound of "We're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed" instead of the friendly, reliable voice of one of the Verizon weather line announcers giving the forecast for the day. So, as Verizon had threatened since March, the company has finally pulled the plug on its popular, free telephone weather service (formerly 202-936-1212). 

It wasn't long, however, before I stumbled down to breakfast, opened today's Washington Post, and read the good news in John Kelly's Metro column: The old weather line, supplied by a private contractor called DC Weather Services, has been taken over by Telecompute and is now available on a new number:

202-589-1212 

It's not quite the same; it starts with the time and an automated temperature reading -- but hang on a few seconds and you will hear one of the old familiar weather team (Rob Lucchese, Neal Pizzano, Howard Phoebus, et. al.) deliver the usual weather forecast, just as before. Now all I have to do is train my fingers to dial that 589 combination instead of 936!