Meteorologist Jeff Ranieri

What a busy month this has been so far... I have had tons of friends coming to visit from California and Florida which is great as it always keeps fun and exciting things in my plans. It goes without saying that having a friend visiting the city is incredible and the added bonus is that it helps to reinvigorate the NYC tourist inside. I should explain that as a New Yorker now and then you can easily get locked away in your neighborhood forgetting that Times Square is just a quarter mile away and bustling with tourists.

This past weekend my friend Scott was in town and he is a theatre nerd in all senses. There is not one show he has not seen or at least knows about. The plan for Saturday was two Broadway shows and dinner. After the incredible night of theatre and Greek food Scott mentioned that I had to come by and see his hotel, The Paramount. It's a chic hotel with a unique twist of old eclectic furniture and clean modern lines. While I thought the lobby was impressive and beautiful he said, "Wait, there is one more thing you will love as a weather guy." I really had no guess what this hotel could have to impress my friend Scott, especially on the topic of weather!

So, we head up into the elevator to floor #5. The door opens to the floor with a big wall length mirror and he says, "There it is." I looked around and said "Scott, it's just a mirror!" Scott, replied with a "HELLOOOO look over there..." My eyes turned to the left side of the huge mirror and there it was.

Weather conditions were sleekly implanted on the mirror!

While it's not a forecast it does show what the current outside weather conditions are. This played exactly into the theme of the clean lines of the hotel and the "Less is more" design theory. I loved it and had to grab the picture to share with my Weatherplus.com readers.

Who knew that weather could look so elegant and modern and become one with the ultimate vanity: a mirror. If you really think about weather and vanity there are many times that weather and our own reflection of the self cross and become one or even mingle closely. When it's raining, most of us (whether we want to admit it or not!) grab the umbrella to stay dry and keep the hair perfect, or the nice suit jacket dry.

It may not be a complete Weather Plus forecast but it is certainly appealing to someone in a rush. I love the fact that just one word lit up can be informative, and useful while being so simple. I'm still trying to think of how we can use something like this as part of our set design! lol.

My only critique on the genius weather station is the word HUMID is missing. The hot humid days will certainly do a number on an NYC day of walking and sight seeing. A humid illumination could inspire lighter dress or maybe even an extra pump of spray or another bottle of water for the day.

I hope you enjoyed this look into how inventive NYC hotels can be just so they can make a mark in your mind to keep you coming back.

By the way the shows we saw earlier that day were "Grey Gardens" & "Spring Awakening" and they were beyond good. Thanks, Scott.

Talk with you soon - Jeff Ranieri