Forecast For THE WEATHER CHANNEL -- Sultry 24/7

(From The New York Daily News -- By Joe Neumaier)

When the temperature rises outside, blame the weather.

When the temperature rises inside, blame THE WEATHER CHANNEL girls.

Long after meteorologists became the RINGO STARRS of local broadcasting, basic cable's 24-hour WEATHER CHANNEL jumped into the breach, providing -- through its now 25 years of hurricane warnings, tornado touchdowns and airport delays -- a place for those of us obsessed with relative humidity to get our fix every eight minutes.

It's just not the same getting it at the channel's online home, Weather.com.

Yet for those who watch as we prepare for that day's weather, the network is far from a barometer of banality -- thanks to its hotties of the isobar.

There's even a web site, KapturedForYou.com, that obsessively screen-grabs the channel's hostesses and catalogues them with the steadfastness of the jet stream.

Yes, there are informative specials and news tidbits. We've learned a thing or two about tropical vs. subtropical storms, and what "convective" means. And there's top-notch reporting from correspondents always ready to stand in the middle of some windswept area or other.

But for many, Mother Nature's greatest act was raining the women of the Weather Channel on us -- to underscore its glamness, there are even two on-air meteorologists named "JENNIFER LOPEZ" and "BETTY DAVIS" (not spelled the same, but still).

On a clear day, you could watch them forever.

Enjoy this look at the ladies who are showing up on our own Doppler radar.

Forecast For The Weather Channel -- Sultry 24/7