Blue-Skies -- Without a doubt, The Weather Underground is the most extensive, comprehensive source for Earth sciences information available on the Internet. Blue-Skies is the client program that delivers The Weather Underground direct to your PC. Based on Dave Brooks' (who incidentally also wrote the Blue-Skies for Windows client) WS-Gopher client, Blue-Skies is a gopher-based navigational tool that guides you through the massive meteorological repository that is The Weather Underground (TWU). TWU includes graphical charts of various U.S. weather patterns, updated on the hour, including information on temperature, relative humidity, dewpoint, heat index, wind speed and direction, precipitation, and much more. You can even 'zoom' into the geographic region of your choice and also get vital weather statistics for your favorite cities in the U.S. These features are just the tip of the iceberg, however; Blue-Skies also allows you to venture beyond The Weather Underground with preconfigured links to informational resources containing topics like pollution reports, ski conditions, long-range forecasts, earthquake reports, severe weather and hurricane advisories, ozone information, marine forecasts, a national weather summary, Canadian forecasts, daily climatic data, and limited international data. Blue-Skies contains links to nearly every available Internet resource that makes use of information from the National Weather Service (NWS) and does so with more than just textual reports; graphical charts and movies comprise a large portion of the overall information. The multimedia effect is part of what makes Blue-Skies such an interesting client; another part is the overwhelming amount of data contained on nearly every aspect of our Earth. Unfortunately, though, the tendency for most resources is a slightly ethnocentric bias towards the United States (in part due to U.S. funding for most of these sites) -- while there is a fair amount of International information available, the vast majority is U.S. specific. Blue-Skies may also be overly complicated for some users. Those looking for concise, easy-to-read weather reports and forecasts may find that their needs are better met by a client like WinWeather. For the serious Earth sciences and weather devotee; however, no other client even comes close. Pros: The most comprehensive resource for weather and Earth sciences on the Internet Cons: Lacks sufficient International information, its complexity may be daunting for new users New: This is the initial review for Blue-Skies Version Reviewed: 1.0 Beta 3a Date of Review: 10/30/95 Reviewer: Forrest Stroud apps conference Main Menu