Working at the Speed of Cloud during Severe Weather

Cloud computing is a fancy way of saying ‘someone else’s computer’. As a TV meteorologist, why do you care that The Weather Company is developing robust cloud computing capabilities?

Let me rewind a bit. The executives at TV station groups want their partners to go in this direction. This can help them gain efficiencies by not having as much hardware in each of the stations, which requires station-level engineering support to install, power and maintain 24/7.

And when does efficiency matter the most? During severe weather which is why The Weather Company started on this cloud journey years ago. Max Cloud is a hyper-scalable solution that extends broadcast capabilities beyond the walls of a station, unlocking the full potential of an entire station group through increased collaboration, entirely new web-based content creation tools, streamlined workflows and more cost-effective, faster disaster recovery options. It combines the functionality, advanced graphics and rapid production of the Max Weather platform suite with the availability, scalability and security-rich environment of the IBM Cloud.

Meteorologists can simultaneously work together in regional workgroups or even fill in for one another as needed. Max Cloud allows for low-friction content sharing and distribution, enabling virtually any producer, designer, or -meteorologist to contribute to shows for multiple markets. This feature is especially valuable during long-duration severe weather, winter, or tropical events where any meteorologist can contribute scenes or coverage to the impacted market.

WVEC-TV put this concept to the test. They used Max Cloud to assist their sister station, WTSP, in the run-up and coverage of Hurricane Ian by loading a WTSP “streaming” workspace on one of their Max systems at their disaster recovery site and sent the video to them via the TVU grid, so they could have looping, streaming content for on-air or OTT, should it be needed. WVEC also shared several tropical graphics through the TEGNA shared locker for WTSP to use.

This is an example of enhanced collaboration between meteorologists who can then maximize their value and output, whether they’re on-air or behind the scenes, elevating weather presentations across the entire station group, keeping stations on the air, and growing their viewer base while keeping those ever-growing audiences informed.

Another severe weather product leveraging the cloud is Max Alert Live. Its command-and-control center is in the cloud which allows you to send out alerts from anywhere with an internet connection. You can also view the current situation, choose trigger conditions and control the video output. While much of Max Alert Live is automated, you have the control to customize the viewer experience such as maps and weather data that keeps people safe and informed. Information can be set to display automatically or manually depending on the severity level.

And finally, Max Velocity is also built on Max Cloud. This is a browser-based video production tool which speeds up content production while delivering a high level of quality and storytelling. It simply requires an internet connection and browser, so meteorologists can work from home or from where the weather is happening, cranking out compelling content and keeping their digital audience informed which is especially important during severe or impactful weather.

Instead of multiple meteorologists having to come into the station they can work from home, cranking out impactful content for digital channels while the meteorologist at the station covers and focuses on linear. You can assemble, produce, and publish multiple stories just in the amount of time it would take to drive into the station. You can also incorporate additional storytellers with mini control room capabilities that make it easy to interview people, making your stories more dynamic and relevant. Send a link to a weather spotter mid-state and put the storm into context without the need to drive to those locations. Most of you have been on the receiving end of viewers that complain about stations warning people not to travel while the station itself is on the roads to cover these weather events.

But here is one other advantage of Max Velocity being cloud-based. We have been evolving the product every few weeks and we push changes through our Dev-Ops team to our cloud servers, so you get innovation at the speed of cloud. Our users have been making feature requests and we can turn them around in days.

More capabilities and products are being built on our cloud platform, enabling you to work from anywhere especially during severe weather, so your content can be quickly posted to linear and digital to keep your audiences safe and informed.