At the end of the day, a world record is a world record — even if most people don't realize it exists. Some of us etch our name in history through daring feats of science and exploration. America's weatherman Al Roker is going about it in his own, special way: he's about to embark on the longest weather forecast ever produced. Roker's goal is to talk weather and only weather for 34 hours straight, enough to surpass the current official Guinness World Record of 24 hours. (Norwegian Eli Kari Gjengedal recently completed a 33-hour run, so Al's got to go even longer to make it count.) His entire grueling attempt will be streamed at Today.com starting at 10PM ET tonight, and Roker has also promised to make appearances on local NBC affiliates around the US as he presses on. If all goes to plan, he'll break the record during his normal stint on Friday morning's Today.

There are some strict rules that Roker must follow for his marathon forecast to be recognized by Guiness. First, weather is the only thing he can talk about; going off topic for any length of time could disqualify his whole effort. Thankfully for the man's sanity, he's not limited to current conditions or a measly 7-day forecast. Roker will be allowed to go back or forward an entire week while chatting about the weather. Further, there's no geographic limit on Roker's forecast, so theoretically he'll be able to chalk up hours just hopping from town to town across the United States. If he goes in with a plan, this thing might be doable.

NBC notes that for every 60 minutes completed, Roker will be given a five-minute break. He can choose to stack those together if he's in a groove and can keep talking for a few hours without any rest. Roker's attempt is timed to coincide with Guinness World Records Day, and his main goal — aside from a spot in the record books — is to raise donations for our armed forces and United States Service Organizations (USO). Al Roker's been telling us the weather for decades, but 34 hours straight? Let's just say the later stages of his forecast should make for quality entertainment.