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AccuWeather

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Not to be confused withAccuRadio.

AccuWeather Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryMeteorology
GenreWeather forecasting
Founded1962;62 years ago(1962)
FounderJoel Myers
Headquarters
Ferguson Township,nearState College,Pennsylvania
,
United States
Key people
Joel Myers (executive chairman)
Steven Smith (CEO)
Services
  • Smartphone weather applications
  • Online forecasts and videos
Number of employees
450+[1]
Websiteaccuweather

AccuWeather Inc.is a private-sector American media company that provides commercialweather forecastingservices worldwide.

AccuWeather was founded in 1962 byJoel N. Myers,then aPennsylvania State Universitygraduate student working on a master's degree inmeteorology.His first customer was agascompany inPennsylvania.While running his company, Myers also worked as a member of Penn State's meteorology faculty. The company adopted the name "AccuWeather" in 1971.

AccuWeather is headquartered inFerguson Township,just outside ofState College,Pennsylvania, with offices at 80 Pine Street inManhattan's Financial Districtin addition toWichita,Kansas,andOklahoma City,Oklahoma.Internationally, AccuWeather has offices inMontreal,Tokyo,Beijing,Seoul,andMumbai.

Company profile[edit]

AccuWeather Forecast Center, 2007

AccuWeather provides weather forecasts and warnings and additional weather products and services, with clients worldwide in media, business, and government, including more than half of theFortune 500companies and thousands of other businesses globally.[2]It also runs the free, advertising-supported website AccuWeather, an online weather provider. Third-partyweb analyticsprovidersAlexaandSimilarWebrated the site as the 200th most visited website in the United States, as of November 2015.[3]

AccuWeather's forecasts and warning services are based on weather information derived from numerous sources, including weather observations and data gathered by theNational Weather Serviceand meteorological organizations outside the United States, and from information provided by non-meteorological organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the armed forces as well as its own proprietary models and algorithms. In 2020, AccuWeather requested and received between $5 million and $10 million in aid under thePaycheck Protection Programto avoid having to let go 462 employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]In 2021, AccuWeather employed just under 500 people, more than 100 of whom are operational meteorologists.[5]

AccuWeather operates a 24/7 weather channel known asThe AccuWeather Networkavailable onSpectrum TV,DIRECTV,Verizon Fios,andFrontier cableas well asPhiloandFuboTVstreaming services. The network broadcasts a combination of live and pre-recorded national and regional weather forecasts, analysis of ongoing weather events, and weather-related news, along with local weather segments. The network's studio and master control facilities are based at AccuWeather's headquarters nearState College, Pennsylvania.[6]

In 2006, AccuWeather acquired WeatherData, Inc. of Wichita. Renamed AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions in 2011, the Wichita facility now[when?]houses AccuWeather's specialized severe weather forecasters.[citation needed]

Leadership[edit]

As of June 2023, Steven R. Smith is CEO having taken over the position from company founder Dr. Joel N. Myers who became executive chairman.[7] Joel Myers' brother Evan Myers was Chief Operating Officer until 2020[8]and Senior Vice President. His other brother,Barry Lee Myers,was chief executive officer from 2007 to January 1, 2019.[9]

Products and services[edit]

The AccuWeather app on Android

The regular weather provider forBloomberg Television,AccuWeather also provides guest commentary on major TV networks. AccuWeather, through theUnited Stations Radio Networks(previously throughWestwood Oneuntil 2009), also provides weather for over 800 radio stations and over 700 newspapers, includingWINSinNew York CityandWBBMinChicago.During severe-weather episodes, AccuWeather employees have been called upon by television journalists such asLarry King,[10]Geraldo Rivera,[11]andGreta van Susteren[12]for expert commentary. Accuweather's broadcast meteorologistJim Kosekbecame an internet sensation in 2010 due to what the company describe as his "all-out, manic style" announcements, e.g. of a blizzard forecast as a "snowmaggedon".[13]Other well known AccuWeather meteorologists are Bernie Rayno, Brittany Boyer, Geoff Cornish and Melissa Constanzer. AccuWeather's Chief Meteorologist is Jonathan Porter and Dan Kottlowski is AccuWeather's lead hurricane forecaster.Elliot Abramsretired from AccuWeather in 2019 after working at AccuWeather for more than 50 years.[14]

AccuWeather produces local weather videos each day for use on their own website, on the Local AccuWeather Network, on wired Internet, and onmobile applicationand websites.[2]The mobile application has a minute-by-minute forecast[15]and also collectscrowd-sourcedweather observations.[16]The company is also active in the areas ofconvergence[2]anddigital signage.[17]They have added auser-contributedvideo section to their photo gallery.

In 2015, AccuWeather entered into a joint venture with the Chinese company Huafeng Media Group, receiving the sole rights to deliver forecasts made by theChina Meteorological Administration,a government agency that controls Huafeng.[18]

Besides its forecasting services to individual consumers, AccuWeather performs weather-relatedpredictive analytical servicesfor businesses, such as determining how weather conditions have influenced past sales history and advising businesses on adapting their sales strategy for future weather events.[19]

The Local AccuWeather Channel[edit]

On-air with a behind-the-scenes view of the production.

Starting in 2005, AccuWeather offeredThe Local AccuWeather Channelas adigital subchannelto television stations.[20]By 2021, the service had been quietly discontinued.[21]AccuWeather continues to provide local weather content to noncommercialMilwaukee PBSstationWMVT-DT3under a separate agreement.[22]

National weather channel[edit]

In 2015,Verizon FiOSreplacedThe Weather Channelwith a new 24/7 all-weather television network called "The AccuWeather Channel".This followed earlier negotiations among AccuWeather, The Weather Channel, andDirecTV.The AccuWeather Network is a separate operation from "The Local AccuWeather Channel",which continues to run in selected markets across the country. It became the third 24/7 weather network to launch on American television, after The Weather Channel in 1982 andWeatherNation TVin 2011.[23]The AccuWeather Network is also carried on Spectrum TV, DIRECTV, Frontier, and on Philo and FuboTV streaming services. On August 1, 2018, the AccuWeather Network began on DIRECTV nationwide.

AccuWeather Now[edit]

In July 2021, AccuWeather announced a companionover-the-topchannel,AccuWeather Now,that will focus mainly onviral videosand sharedsocial mediacontent.[21]

RealFeeltemperature[edit]

AccuWeather created a unified and proprietaryapparent temperaturesystem known as "The AccuWeather Exclusive RealFeel Temperature" and has used the quantity in its forecasts and observations. The formula for calculating this value[24]incorporates the effects oftemperature,wind,humidity,sunshine intensity, cloudiness, precipitation, andelevationon thehuman body,similar to the rarely used (butpublic domain)wet-bulb globe temperature.AccuWeather has been granted aUnited States patenton The RealFeel Temperature,[25]but the formula is atrade secretand has not been reviewed by other meteorological authorities. In response to AccuWeather's "RealFeel",The Weather Channelintroduced their "FeelsLike" temperature reading.[26]

Plume labs[edit]

AccuWeather acquired air pollution startup Plume Labs in 2022.[27]Plume labs started in 2014, as a air pollution visualization and forecasting service. Data is gathered through government controlled stations and individual contributors.[28]It gradually started offering street by street level prediction ofAQI.It also sells Flow, a pocket-sized device to measure AQI.[29]Due to sells volume, more Flow devices report AQI than government stations. Although government stations report AQI with greater accuracy.

Criticisms[edit]

Long-term forecasting practices[edit]

In April 2012, AccuWeather drastically shortened the range of their publicly available historical data from 15 years to 1 year. They also began increasing the range of their forecast from 15 days to 25 days, 45 days, and (by 2016) to 90 days. These hyper-extended forecasts have been compared to actual results several times and shown to be misleading, inaccurate, and sometimes less accurate than simple predictions based on National Weather Service averages over a 30-year period.[30][31]It is generally accepted that the upper limit on how far one can reliably forecast is between one and two weeks, a limit based on both limits in observation systems and thechaotic nature of the atmosphere.[30][32][33]

An informal assessment conducted byJason SamenowatThe Washington Postasserted that AccuWeather's forecasts at the 25-day range were often wrong by as many as ten degrees Fahrenheit, no better than random chance and that the forecasts missed half of the fourteen days of rain that had occurred during the month of the assessment.[34]AccuWeather responds that it does not claim absolute precision in such extremely long forecasts and advises users to only use the forecast to observe general trends in the forecast period,[35]but this contrasts with the way the forecasts are presented.[36]An assessment from thePostdetermined that the 45-day forecasts were not even able to predict trends accurately, and that, although the forecasts did not decrease in accuracy with time, the forecasts were so far off even in the short range as to be useless.[36]ThePostcommissioned another assessment fromPenn State UniversityprofessorJon Nese,comparing several more cities to Accuweather's predictions; that assessment, while acknowledged as being limited to a single season, acknowledged that AccuWeather's forecasts were of value in short-range forecasting while also noting that their long-range forecasts beyond one week were less accurate than climatological averages.[31]

National Weather Service[edit]

TheNational Weather Service,which provides large amounts of the data that AccuWeather repackages and sells for profit, also provides that same information for free by placing it in thepublic domain.

On April 14, 2005, U.S. SenatorRick Santorum(R-PA) introduced the "National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005"in theU.S. Senate.The legislation would have forbidden the National Weather Service from providing any such information directly to the public, and the legislation was generally interpreted as an attempt by AccuWeather to profit off of taxpayer-funded weather research by forcing its delivery through private channels. AccuWeather denies this and maintains it never intended to keep weather information out of the hands of the general public.[37]The bill did not come up for a vote. Santorum received campaign contributions from AccuWeather's president, Joel Myers.[38]

On October 12, 2017, PresidentDonald Trumpnominated AccuWeather CEOBarry Lee Myers,the younger brother of the company's founder, to head the National Weather Service's parent administration, theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.It was noted that unlike 11 of the previous 12 NOAA administrators, Myers lacks an advanced scientific degree, instead holding bachelor's and master's degrees in business and law.[39]Barry Myers stepped down as CEO of AccuWeather on January 1, 2019, and completely divested himself of any ownership of AccuWeather in accordance with his pledge to theOffice of Government Ethicsand the U.S. Senate. After two years of inaction on the nomination, Myers withdrew his consideration for nomination on November 12, 2019, due to ill health,[40]though allegations of a hostile workplace and pervasive sexual harassment while Myers was at AccuWeather are rumored to have stalled it.[41][42]Myers sent alettertoThe Washington Postin 2019 to address these allegations.

iOS location privacy[edit]

In August 2017, security researcher Will Strafach intercepted traffic from the AccuWeatheriPhoneapp to discover that it inadvertently sent location information to Reveal Mobile through a faultySDK,even when customers have not given permission to share location information.ZDnetindependently verified this information.[43]AccuWeather immediately released an update to theApp Storewhich removed the Reveal Mobile SDK.[44]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"Careers".AccuWeather.RetrievedJanuary 14,2023.
  2. ^abc"Firm Expands Ways to Get Weather – Technology".redOrbit. December 3, 2006.RetrievedNovember 20,2011.
  3. ^"Accuweather Site Overview".Alexa. Archived fromthe originalon November 4, 2020.RetrievedNovember 18,2016.
  4. ^Moyer, Josh (July 8, 2020)."What Centre County businesses received COVID-19 aid, and how much did they get? Here's a closer look".Centre Daily Times.
  5. ^"About Us".AccuWeather.RetrievedAugust 6,2021.
  6. ^"National Weather".hollywoodreporter. November 5, 2017.
  7. ^"AccuWeather names new CEO after founder Joel Myers steps down to become executive chairman".Centre Daily Times.The McClatchy Company. June 14, 2023.
  8. ^Samenow, Jason (April 11, 2016),"AccuWeather extends its controversial, 45-day weather forecasts to 90 days",The Washington Post,retrievedNovember 18,2016
  9. ^Feintzeig, Rachel (March 20, 2014),"Meet the Man Who Brings You the Weather",The Wall Street Journal,retrievedNovember 18,2016
  10. ^"CNN – Transcripts".CNN.
  11. ^"Topics and Guests for September 24 & 25".Fox News.September 23, 2005. Archived fromthe originalon November 22, 2010.RetrievedApril 10,2010.
  12. ^"Covering Katrina".Fox News.August 29, 2005.[dead link]
  13. ^Athas, Eric."AccuWeather forecaster Jim Kosek's over-the-top antics make him a Web sensation".The Washington Post.
  14. ^Vadala, Nick."Longtime AccuWeather meteorologist Elliot Abrams, a Philly native, to retire this week".inquirer.RetrievedOctober 21,2021.
  15. ^Moynihan, Tim (February 26, 2014),"AccuWeather's Revamped App Is the Perfect Blend of Utility and Beauty",WIRED,retrievedApril 9,2017
  16. ^Swanner, Nate (July 21, 2015)."AccuWeather's AccUcast service is like Waze for weather".The Next Web B.V.RetrievedApril 9,2017.
  17. ^"CORRECTION: Content From AccuWeather to Expand to Digital Signs – Business".redOrbit. August 11, 2006.RetrievedNovember 20,2011.
  18. ^Dodillet, Lauren (May 28, 2015)."JV Brings AccuWeather Tech to China".China Business Review.US China Business Council.RetrievedApril 9,2017.
  19. ^Davis, Jessica (November 23, 2015),"AccuWeather Storms Into Enterprise With Predictive Analytics",InformationWeek,retrievedNovember 18,2016
  20. ^McAvoy, Kim (July 27, 2011)."Diginets Struggle For Place On TV's Frontier".TVNewsCheck.RetrievedAugust 19,2014.
  21. ^ab"AccuWeather to Launch Video Streaming Service AccuWeather NOW".AccuWeather. July 29, 2021 – via PR Newswire.
  22. ^OnMedia: How to audition for "Idol",OnMilwaukee,July 14, 2010.
  23. ^"Verizon FiOS drops the Weather Channel".Los Angeles Times.March 11, 2015.RetrievedJune 1,2015.
  24. ^"What is the AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature?".Accuweather.June 17, 2014.Archivedfrom the original on November 30, 2019.RetrievedJanuary 13,2021.
  25. ^"United States Patent: 7251579".Patft.uspto.gov. Archived fromthe originalon December 8, 2016.RetrievedNovember 20,2011.
  26. ^Carpenter, Mackenzie (January 25, 2014)."Have we become emotionally obsessed with the weather?".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.RetrievedFebruary 11,2014.
  27. ^Dillet, Romain (January 24, 2022)."AccuWeather acquires air pollution startup Plume Labs".TechCrunch.RetrievedMay 16,2024.
  28. ^"Plume Labs: Air Report to dodge the smog and find clean air | Copernicus".atmosphere.copernicus.eu.RetrievedMay 16,2024.
  29. ^Dillet, Romain (January 4, 2017)."Plume Labs' Flow is an air quality tracker to avoid pollution".TechCrunch.RetrievedMay 16,2024.
  30. ^abSamenow, Jason (April 11, 2016)."AccuWeather extends its controversial, 45-day weather forecasts to 90 days".The Washington Post.ISSN0190-8286.RetrievedApril 14,2016.
  31. ^abNese, Jon (December 26, 2013)."Students put AccuWeather long-range forecasts to the test".The Washington Post.ISSN0190-8286.RetrievedApril 14,2016.
  32. ^Paul, Don (June 10, 2016).The Farmers' Almanac, long-range forecasts and other 'gibberish'ArchivedJune 13, 2016, at theWayback Machine.The Buffalo News.Retrieved June 12, 2016.
  33. ^"Chaos in the Atmosphere".aip.org.Archived fromthe originalon July 28, 2020.RetrievedApril 14,2016.
  34. ^Samenow, Jason (August 6, 2013).Accuweather: You cannot be serious.The Washington Post.Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  35. ^"AccuWeather unveils 45-day forecast – DC News FOX 5 DC WTTG".August 25, 2013. Archived fromthe originalon August 25, 2013.RetrievedApril 14,2016.
  36. ^abMesereau, Dennis (October 8, 2013).AccuWeather’s 45-day forecast fails to impress in multi-city test.The Washington Post.Retrieved October 11, 2013.
  37. ^"Weather info could go dark".Archived fromthe originalon May 17, 2007.
  38. ^"NEWSMEAT ▷ Joel Myers's Federal Campaign Contribution Report".Newsmeat. Archived fromthe originalon October 20, 2011.RetrievedNovember 20,2011.
  39. ^Shepardson, David (October 12, 2017)."White House nominates AccuWeather CEO to head climate agency".Reuters.RetrievedOctober 12,2017.
  40. ^Freedman, Andrew; Samenow, Jason (November 20, 2019)."White House pick to lead NOAA withdraws nomination, citing health concerns".The Washington Post.ISSN0190-8286.RetrievedDecember 3,2019.
  41. ^Brice-Saddler, Michael (April 12, 2019)."Company led by Trump nominee was rife with harassment, including groping and kissing, report says".The Washington Post.
  42. ^Wood, Anthony (April 15, 2019)."Feds allege 'widespread sexual harassment' at AccuWeather while Trump nominee was CEO".Philadelphia Inquirer.
  43. ^"ZDnet ▷ AccuWeather caught sending user location data, even when location sharing is off".ZDnet.RetrievedAugust 22,2018.
  44. ^Shaikh, Rafia (August 24, 2017)."AccuWeather Releases Updated App to Deal with Privacy Concerns".Wccftech.WCCF PTE LTD.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAccuWeather.


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