When the weather ball is red,
higher temperatures ahead
When the weather ball is blue,
lower temperatures are due.
Yellow light in weather ball
means there’ll be no change at all.
When colors blink in agitation,
there’s going to be precipitation.
The poem above is a testament to Flint area residents’ enduring connection to the historic weather-predicting beacon that has topped Downtown’s Citizens Bank Building since August 1956. The trusty weather ball still operates on its original technology from the 1950s, which consists of someone reading a weather report and choosing the correct light color by pushing a button. This summer, the letters ‘FM’ will be visible on Flint’s skyline from 25 miles away when they replace the ‘CB’ as FirstMerit Bank settles into the community.
