Many people don’t realize there are private weather companies that consult with businesses of all kinds and sizes every day around critical decisions.
In fact, private weather forecasting is a $7 billion industry, according to a 2017 National Weather Service study, and it’s continuing to grow at a rate of around 10-15% each year.
image Associated Press
From Forbes by Jim Foerster
Many people don’t realize there are private weather companies that consult with businesses of all ...
Weather plays a significant role in business.
It impacts the U.S.
gross national product by approximately $1 trillion each year, and weather information is used by over 95% of all companies in the U.S. based on several recent studies.
According to the National Weather Service (NWS), weather creates $13 billion of value to businesses each year in the U.S.
Neither the public nor private sector by itself can address the needs of all weather consumers.
The efforts of the NWS and private weather companies go hand in hand to make our industry as successful and productive as it is.
The relationship is a very symbiotic one that continues to evolve and grow.
Many people don’t realize there are private weather companies that consult with businesses of all kinds and sizes every day around critical decisions.
In fact, private weather forecasting is a $7 billion industry, according to a 2017 National Weather Service study, and it’s continuing to grow at a rate of around 10-15% each year.
As with any good partnership, both parties contribute in significant ways, capitalizing on their unique strengths.
The NWS has the funding and long-term vision to make capital investments and develop an infrastructure that produces a wealth of weather information, including surface observations, radar, satellite data, as well as running multiple numerical weather models that predict the future state of the atmosphere.
This information helps the government meet its primary public safety obligation.
It’s not financially practical for a private sector company to produce and collect such massive amounts of weather information because it wouldn’t provide a return on investment.
Thus, these functions have traditionally been executed on a large scale by a government agency.
The NWS makes its data freely available, thus allowing the private sector to use the information for its purposes.
Indeed, this sharing of data provides the backbone of the American weather enterprise.
The NWS has an essential role providing warnings of hazardous weather and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for purposes of protection, safety and general information.
We are all familiar with watches and warnings issued by the NWS for various severe weather events, including large hail, winds more than 55 knots, tornadoes, heavy rain events, tropical storms, and significant snowstorms.
The NWS provides consistent, high-quality forecasts and services for the country as a whole, but in turn does not customize forecasts, watches or warnings to any individual or business.
Commercial weather companies utilize the data made available by the NWS’s parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) along with data from private networks and other global government agencies to create the value-added services tailored to customer’s needs.
For example, many commercial weather providers statistically combine forecasts from the NOAA GFS model, the European ECMWF model, and their own, higher resolution models to create highly-accurate global forecasts.
Further, most commercial weather providers have a staff of expert meteorologists that curate these combined forecasts to produce the final forecasts that go out to clients and more important than ever, consult with customers around the risk or impact the weather will have on their operations.
Unlike the NWS, a commercial weather provider prepares custom forecasts for a variety of purposes and precise locations.
For example, a commercial weather provider can issue forecasts for the exact location of an oil rig’s operation in the ocean.
It can detail the time of critical wind changes or frontal passages and provide alerts about the onset of significant rain, lightning or thunderstorms that might affect their operations.
Private forecasters can also provide customized forecasts and risk consultation for farmers, large festivals and events, retail interests and many other corporate interests.
A strength of the private sector is its ability to effectively tailor and communicate weather information and the risk it will bring to both consumers and businesses.
While the government produces essential weather data and general forecasts for the nation, it lacks the readymade audience that many sizable private weather companies have developed.
The private sector can broadcast weather watches and warnings issued by the NWS through apps, television, websites, and social media.
Commercial weather providers have also been creative in providing weather information that helps people plan their outdoor activities for the hour, day and week due to the detailed knowledge they obtain about the decisions being made.
This also allows private sector meteorologists to work directly with customers to define their needs and create analytics that are a combination of weather information and customers information, creating significant value for customer work flows, safety plans, etc.
Commercial weather providers also provide value to large, global companies that seek seamless services anywhere in the world, including in places where the National Meteorological Centers do not provide coverage.
With more and more extreme weather events around the globe, having the resources of both the public and private weather services benefits businesses and consumers alike.
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