Courtesy of the Online Design Digest blog, NBC has rolled out a new look for WeatherPlus.com. The new design features a light blue background with individual content modules topped by dark blue headers.

Internal content has also been better organized and now features some nifty dynamic effects.

The site’s navigation now features drop-down menus that have dashed outlines that make them look oddly like coupons.

It will be interesting to see how this new direction for WeatherPlus.com plays into NBC Universal’s planned acquisition of the Weather Channel, which includes the hot domain Weather.com.

MSNBC was using a different location for Weather Plus updates at 30 Rock this afternoon. The network had moved away from using the Manhattan studios for weather updates on MSNBC, opting to use WeatherPlus headquarters at CNBC in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. instead.

When weather does originate from New York City, it is typically done from the balcony area, but today Jeff Raineri was reporting from the newsroom floor, with a handheld camera used. Raineri used the desktop computers to control his on-screen graphics as well.

By the way, the cable on the right side of the screen is a nice touch.

UPDATE: About thirty minutes later Raineri was back up on the balcony:

WESH.com, the Web site for WESH-TV, the Hearst-Argyle NBC affiliate in Orlando, Fla., was using its special “Severe Weather Alert” box on its homepage last Saturday.

The problem was the text beneath it: “There are currently no severe weather alerts.”

Plus the radars thumbnails look pretty clear over the greater Orlando area…

Just a few observations about the Weather Channel’s new “Studio of the Future”:

• The centerpiece of the set, the giant rear projection screen, isn’t being used effectively. When viewed from the anchor desk, the background is washed out and blurry. However, the flexibility of displaying panoramic views of American cities and landmarks does add a nice touch to the set (unlike MSNBC’s somewhat bizarre decision to constantly showcase only Rockefeller Plaza despite the fact it’s a national cable network).
• The studio’s new key wall isn’t nearly as well lit as the previous studio’s — there is some noticeable green glow and harsh lines around talent.
• Overall, the set isn’t even seen that much, which was also true in the old studios. Since the majority of weather forecasting is full-screen chroma key, WeatherPlus’ minimalistic set makes more sense.
• “Abrams & Bettes” seemed to be originating from the old studios earlier this week, but this will likely change when the show goes HD June 16.

By the way, I have some mixed feelings about the Weather Channel HD logo. Using the vertical pipes is a unique way to integrate the “HD” into the logo — and a creative alternative to simply boxing the letters in a rectangle like other networks and television stations. However, perhaps the spacing could be a bit wider so the right half of the logo is a bit closer to the 16:9 shape.