Patent ID: 7181346

Claim:
A method of determining the affect of a weather event on a category of interest, comprising: obtaining weather data; obtaining data regarding said category of interest, said data being segmented into geographic regions; determining a weather-affected geographical region within a path of said weather event; determining intersections of said weather-affected geographic region and said geographic regions, said determining intersections of said weather-affected geographic region and said geographic regions further comprises; discarding non-intersecting areas of said weather-affected geographic region and said geographic regions; determining an area of each intersection between said weather-affected geographic region and said geographic regions; determining a quantity affected by said weather event in accordance with said intersections, said quantity being related to said category of interest, said determining a quantity affected by said weather event in accordance with said intersections further comprises; determining a total of said category of interest for a predetermined geographic region; multiplying said total by a ratio of each said area within said predetermined geographic region and an area of said predetermined geographic region to obtain a sub-quantity for each said area; summing all sub-quantities to determine said quantity; and providing a forecast including said quantity affected by said weather event as an indication of said affect of said weather event on said category of interest.