My-Cast, the science of personal meteorology

It’s been said that, like politics, all weather is local. The Internet is transforming how consumers receive, process and use information, and the meteorological implications are considerable. Weather varies from neighborhood to neighborhood, and no two people have identical lifestyles. The personalization potential of the Web and email is limitless, and the Internet may represent an opportunity to tailor weather down to an audience of one. Digital Cyclone has created a proprietary weather engine, a national network of four-mile resolution weather models updating every three hours. We have adapted MM5 for over 50 cities and commercialized the model, merging meteorological output with a personalization database of user preferences, ranging from hobbies and sports to special events and schedule items. The result is content that can be displayed on the Web, or pushed to consumers via email and wireless devices, allowing TV meteorologists to establish a round-the-clock relationship and dialogue with every viewer and potential viewer. Creating and maintaining this network of local weather models, and tailoring these models for terrain, land attributes and other local factors, has required a diverse range of meteorological and scientific skills. Meteorologist Craig Burfeind is Co-Founder and Chief Technologist for Digital Cyclone, and he joins Paul Douglas in describing the design and launch of My-Cast, the world’s first virtual on-line meteorologist.