92nd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting (January 22-26, 2012)

Tuesday, 24 January 2012: 11:00 AM
A Private Sector Approach to Analyzing the Societal Impacts of Sensible Weather
Room 335/336 (New Orleans Convention Center )
Gregory Loulis, Telvent, Minneapolis, MN; and J. Rossow
Manuscript (273.3 kB)

In today's world, it has become increasingly important for Operational Meteorologists to understand the societal impacts that everyday weather has upon different industries. Each industry has specific weather concerns which the meteorologist must be cognizant of, such as the timing of precipitation or the intensity of thunderstorms. Concerns can vary from season to season or even among different days of the week. In addition, different industries have different timeframes of concern; some are concerned with weather only in the next 24 hours while others are concerned with weather impacts over an entire week or perhaps an entire season. Communicating with pertinent and valuable information is essential to aid non-meteorological users in making effective operational decisions, ultimately mitigating the risk from weather. Telvent hosts an interactive online consulting forum for its clients to make specific weather inquiries directly to an Operational Meteorologist, focused on the client's industry. This study will utilize a two-year sample of online consulting forum data (July 1, 2009-June 30, 2011) to determine which industries are most sensitive to the weather in each season, the specific weather parameters they are concerned with, and the time periods of concern, in order to paint a comprehensive picture of the societal impacts of sensible weather.

Supplementary URL: