Weather Risk Assessment Tool

Background:

The number and variety of applications that require accurate and timely weather forecast information are almost too numerous to count. Many applications require very specific data -- for example, public road departments may want to know the rate of snowfall for a particular day, while event planners may need information about the risk of precipitation within a narrow time window. Unfortunately, users may not have the time or experience to quickly derive this information from existing forecast data, such as weather maps provided by the government. As a result, obtaining timely and reliable assessment of risk posed by upcoming weather events is often very difficult.

Technology Overview:

This tool provides a concise and easy-to-understand display of weather risks to aid in decision support services. The product leverages existing, freely-available NOAA high-resolution weather model forecast data (using different models depending on the time range). Leveraging this data, the forecast models are further utilized by incorporating a range of possible model solutions (i.e. an "Ensemble"). Weather risks of interest are displayed in a simple table, with time along one dimension and the type of weather risk (and thresholds of interest) along the second dimension. Risks are color-coded according to their likelihood, with a simple "Low/Medium/High" signifier. The locations are easily changed, as are the types of weather risks.

Advantages:

• Easy to use: Risk assessment is displayed in a way that is easy to understand and requires no special weather expertise.
• Customizable: Users can select the type(s) of data required for their areas of interest, filtering out more general weather information.
• Efficient: Rather than search through weather maps and interpret the data, this tool displays only the data selected by the user. This enables much quicker and accurate weather risk assessment.

Applications:

This program can be used in virtually any application in need of accurate and timely weather risk assessment. These include:

• Electric utility outage management
• Flood disaster preparation
• Snow removal
• Agriculture
• Fire risk management
• School closings
• Outdoor event planning
• …and many others

Stage of Development:

Technology Readiness Level (TRL): 7 - System prototype demonstration in operational environment.

Licensing Status:

This technology is available for licensing.

Licensing Potential:

Potential licensing targets include utilities, aviation, and any industry with weather-based decision support.