Willard's forecast: Clean beaches

America's most famous weatherman, Willard Scott, is making a pitch for Lee County's tourism industry.

Scott, the former NBC Today show weather announcer who lives on the barrier island of Captiva, recently helped the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau with television commercials touting the area's beaches as still pristine.

The effort, of course, is designed to let people know that the BP oil spill hasn't affected the beaches of Sanibel, Captiva and Fort Myers Beach.

One humorous commercial shows Willard on the beach, chatting up a tourist and offering to take him to lunch. The series of nine 30-second spots have been airing on network and cable television channels. The commercials were shot in one day by True North Productions of Milwaukee and overseen by BVK, the Milwaukee-based agency that represents the bureau.

The bureau spent $500,000 to shoot the commercials and buy airtime. You can view the commercials at FortMyers-Sanibel.com/Still_Pristine.