# Presentation: 085813

## Hydro Products for Meteorlogix Customers

**December 7, 2004**
**Jim Block**
**Chief Meteorologist**
**Meteorlogix**

## Company Overview

- Merger of Kavouras, DTN Weather, WSC           (first private weather company in USA)
- Today the largest commercial weather group
- Specializing in business to business weather
- Serving over 20,000 weather clients
- Leader in merge of weather and GIS
- Extended reach now being part of DTN companies
- 150,000 subscribers

**Company Overview**

**Notes:**
Meteorlogix is the leading commercial weather service provider, working with businesses to provide industry-specific weather solutions.

## Slide 3

## Weather Decision Support

**Weather Decision Support**

## Provide Decision Support Services to Weather Sensitive Businesses

- Intelligent weather displays that are reliable and easy to use and provide timely, unique, relevant content
- Location-based weather condition monitoring and alerting systems utilizing GIS
- Specialized Weather Forecast Services
- Expert 24 - 7 - 365 meteorological consultation

**Unique and Proprietary Products and Services**

## Precipitation Timer

**Precipitation Timer**

**Precise calculation of precipitation start and stop times at the course location**
**Also provides estimate of expected rainfall amounts**
**Continuous monitoring and alerting**
**Automatic recalculation and fine-tuning of times every 5 minutes**

**Notes:**
New and intuitive custom-configurable displays of both short and long term local weather forecast information are also included in the Weather Sentry product.  One example of this is the unique precipitation start/stop timing tool.

## Lightning Manager

**Detects and monitors deadly cloud-to-ground lightning strikes **
**Lightning network utilized is the only one officially approved by the National Weather Service**
**Provides real-time monitoring, integrated display and alerting**
**User configurable dual alert mode; advisory and warning**
**Provides higher level of protection for golfers and course employees**

**Notes:**
Meteorlogix has developed a variety of PC-based systems that seamlessly integrate multiple weather data sets, including cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, into a single display.  In addition to displaying the weather information over a base map, automatic monitoring and alerting of activity relative to specific locations are also possible.

## Forecasted radar imagery up to 90 minutes into the future
Easy to understand depiction of future radar coverage
Continuous and automatic updates 

**Easy to understand depiction of future radar coverage**
**Continuous and automatic updates **

**Future Radar**

## Precision Point Forecasts

**Hourly forecasts for the precise location of the golf course**
**Based on DICast adaptive technology through PEAK Weather **
**Continuous adjustments made for local conditions**
**Automatic updates every hour**

**Notes:**
Meteorlogix has developed a variety of PC-based systems that seamlessly integrate multiple weather data sets, including cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, into a single display.  In addition to displaying the weather information over a base map, automatic monitoring and alerting of activity relative to specific locations are also possible.

## Over 50 Staff meteorologists
Average more than 12 years professional experience each
3 Certified Consulting Meteorologists (CCM’s)
16 additional meteorologists in other departments
Primary goal is weather decision making, not entertainment
Available for phone consultation
Specialized involvement during select events

- Average more than 12 years professional experience each
- 3 Certified Consulting Meteorologists (CCM’s)
- 16 additional meteorologists in other departments
- Primary goal is weather decision making, not entertainment
- Available for phone consultation
- Specialized involvement during select events

**Meteorological Consultation**

## A new paradigm: operational GIS applications

- Longer Decision Cycles (Weeks, Months, Years)
- Relatively static data
- Desktop analysis tools
- Data Delivered via media
- Primarily local flat file storage
- Fewer, specialized users (analysis only)

- Shorter Decision Cycles(Minutes, Hours, Days)
- Dynamic frequently updating data
- Desktop and Web analysis tools
- Web Internet/Intranet Delivery
- Data integration into RDBMS’s
- Many Users of varying experience (analysis and viewer access)

**Weather and GIS**

**Notes:**
The availability of dynamic GIS data layers, such as weather information, support a growing trend of GIS users historically aligned with longer time frame analytical decision making, towards a shorter time frame “operational” decision making paradigm.  Construction engineers may use GIS to determine where to build a bridge.  Such a decision is not made over night.  Conversely, some of the GIS weather data sets update as frequently as every 60 seconds.  Meteorlogix is leveraging GIS technology to support operational decision support systems, capable of providing enhanced decision support in that time frame.

## Precise geo-reference of weather information with  agricultural assets
Point locations
Lines from point A to B
Area coverages
Powerful spatial analysis tools inherent in GIS support advanced weather-enabled decision support systems

- Point locations
- Lines from point A to B
- Area coverages
- Powerful spatial analysis tools inherent in GIS support advanced weather-enabled decision support systems

**... ****add ****WEATHER**** ****layers to**

**Highways**
**Railways **
**Crop regions**
**Distribution centers**
**Geopolitical Boundaries**
**Land use and Soil types**
**Population centers**

**Weather and GIS**

**Notes:**
The merge of weather and GIS provides the opportunity to cross reference weather against customer assets.

## Weather Information 

**Weather Information **
**Notification System (WINS)**

**Centralized weather alert management system**
**Generation of real-time dynamic location-based hazard alert messages**
**Short-text messages**
**E-mail**
**Pagers**
**Mobile devices**
**Web sites**

**Notes:**
The location-based alert messages can be transmitted to a variety of fixed (i.e. e-mail to desktop computer) or mobile devices (i.e. cell phone, pager, PDA).

## Interest in Hydro Products

- Energy
- Uses NWS stream flow and stage data (FORECASTS!) in managing hydroelectric facilities for generation
- Public Safety/Surface Transportation
- Flooding – both near and long term
- Agriculture/Turf
- Soil moisture
- Drought
- Irrigation

## Current Hydro Evaluation

- The current suite of hydro products from the NWS do not meet the requirements of most of our clients
- Most NWS products are by hydrologists, for hydrologists
- Formats are difficult to decode or interpret (SHEF)
- Observations and forecasts are in many different places, and hard to find
- AHPS
- Clients require an integrated solution that combines weather, hydro, and other information into a context that enables them to make a decision
- AHPS web interfaces are by hydrologists, for hydrologists
- AHPS is interactive, and therefore not conducive to routine or automated downloads

## Hydro Product Suggestions

- Provide digital products
- There are few products in-between raw data and web graphics

## Recommendations

- Focus on observation and forecast quality
- Don’t get distracted with web products and dissemination
- Provide digital data sets
- Provide the data used to make the web graphics
- Standard data file formats + Metadata
- Make all internal data available
- Don’t restrict access to selected data sets
- Let your partners provide end user solutions
- Follow the example of successful NWS models
- Provide a roadmap for future product enhancements
- Talk about your plans for the next 1-3 years
- Listen to your partners
- Be willing to change or add data sets if required

## Successful Partnerships

- NOHRSC Snow Products
- Digital data in a standard format
- Very good attention to quality and consistency
- Allows partners to package the snow data into a variety of solutions for different markets
- What other hydro products would lend themselves to a digital exchange?

## Jim.Block@meteorlogix.com

**Jim.Block@meteorlogix.com**

**Notes:**
Meteorlogix, the world’s largest commercial weather services provider, combines extensive meteorological expertise with a vast database of weather information to deliver industry-specific solutions for managing weather-related business risks, ensuring personal safety and decreasing financial loss.