Private forecasting firms are seeing increasing demand for their services from city governments. Local governments are looking for more specialized forecasts than are available from providers such as the National Weather Service, a federal agency with 122 offices across the United States and its territories. Forecasts provided by both private sector firms and public agencies are generally accurate ( . In addition to forecast outlooks, the National Weather Service provides watches, warnings, and advisories for use in decision-making by the public, businesses, government agencies, etc. However, some city governments are concluding that is not enough.
Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4, the second major hurricane to impact the state in less than a year. The storm’s remnants then tracked northeast directly impacting and New York City just ten days after Hurricane Henri produced a widespread 4-8 inches of rain across the Northeast. Fifty deaths were attributed to extreme flooding from Ida, with many deaths occurring in basement apartments with already-saturated groundwater and sewer systems unable to handle the additional significant rainfall and high rainfall rates.
Shortly after the extreme flooding from Hurricane Ida’s remnants, New York City hired a private forecasting company to provide a ‘second opinion’ to the city that supplements National Weather Service predictions and creates neighborhood-specific forecasts for forms…” Hoboken, New Jersey followed suit in December. Several cities in the Northeast and across the country already work with private forecasting companies for specialized snow forecasts to help assist with decision making. Now, increasing numbers of local governments are seeking more specialized forecasts with the hope of providing better and more timely services to residents, ultimately saving lives. While the direct impact of these investments has yet to be quantified, it does indicate a higher demand for private forecasting companies that provide specialized and localized services, and a likely lower demand for forecast services that are more generalized.
See the full article on NPR here.
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