High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Weather Star XL is the fifth system designed for The Weather Channel`s local forecast. At its rollout in 1998, it came months after a major update to the channel`s presentation. The Star XL was a major leap over the much older Weather Star 4000 system, featuring advanced capabilities such as transitions, moving icons, cloud wallpaper backgrounds, and reading the local forecast contents. The WeatherStar XL first appeared in a beta roll out on select cable systems in November 1998 and appeared briefly in Latin America on that version of TWC until its demise.