NEW YORK and ATLANTA, July 29,
2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) and its subsidiary The
Weather Company, which includes The Weather Channel digital
properties, were determined to be "the overall most accurate
provider globally" by ForecastWatch, a premier organization for
evaluating the accuracy of weather forecasts.
In its latest comprehensive study of forecast accuracy released
today,ii Global and Regional Weather Forecast Accuracy
Overview, 2017-2020, commissioned by IBM, ForecastWatch named IBM's
The Weather Company as the weather forecast provider whose
forecasts overall were the most accurate globally when aggregated
across all geographic regions compared and time periods covered.
Further, the data showed that the gap between The Weather Company
(noted as The Weather Channel in the report) and the next best
overall provider has increased every year of the
study.iii
"A forecast is most helpful when it comes from a recognized,
trusted source, and the pursuit of accuracy is at the foundation of
what we seek to provide to help customers, consumers and marketers
to make important decisions every day," said Sheri Bachstein, CEO of The Weather Company and
GM of IBM Watson Advertising. "The study is evidence of how IBM is
helping advance the science of weather forecasting through
continued innovations in AI, data and cloud computing."
About the Report
The report is a comprehensive
weather forecast accuracy study spanning four years, 1,424 global
locations across eight regions of the world, and 84 different
accuracy metrics covering precipitation, temperature, cloud cover
and wind forecast variables. ForecastWatch analyzed about 140
million forecasts from 17 different weather providers. Each
provider was noted each time it finished in first place for each
metric, and according to the report, "The Weather Channel recorded
the most first-place finishes globally for every year and every
time period" of the providers compared.
The Weather Company forecasts are created by IBM and distributed
via the IBM Cloud across The Weather Channel app and weather.com,
Weather Underground app and wunderground.com, as well as weather
products for IBM enterprise clients.
Major highlights and findings of the report for compared
providers averaged over the study period and all forecast days
include:
- The Weather Company is the overall most accurate forecast
provider globally.
- The Weather Company was 3.5x more likely to be the most
accurate of any other provider studied.i
- This gap between The Weather Company and other weather
providers studied has increased every year of the
study.iii
- The Weather Company is the most accurate provider most often in
each region compared, including the U.S., Canada, Central
America, South America,
Europe, Africa, Middle
East and Asia-Pacific.
iii
Industry Leading Accuracy Built on Science, AI, and
Tech
Artificial intelligence is a critical tool for
meteorologists to make sense of billions of unstructured weather
data points produced by satellites, ground sensors, radars, and
more. With advanced machine learning algorithms and computing power
from IBM, meteorologists at The Weather Company can use this data
to simulate atmospheric conditions and better anticipate the
weather forecast.
Continued investment and innovation at IBM have allowed its team
of meteorologists and experts to develop technologies that put The
Weather Company ahead in overall accuracy, such as:
- A forecasting engine that uses AI to integrate input from
nearly 100 forecast models around the world, weighing factors from
each model based on geography, time, weather type and recent
forecast accuracy. The system then blends those weighted
contributions to arrive at a single synthesized forecast that
provides the best possible accuracy available for any location when
requested, on demand.
- A significant breakthrough in global weather forecasting with
the 2019 launch of IBM GRAF (Global High-Resolution Atmospheric
Forecasting), the first hourly-updating global weather model able
to predict something as small as a thunderstorm.
- Global radar leadership thanks to one of the world's largest
assimilations of weather radar data and technologies such as AI to
use that data effectively.
- On-demand assessment of both current and forecast weather
conditions from proprietary technology at The Weather Company.
- A state-of-the-science marriage of weather content with both AI
and human forecaster interaction, proprietary technology called
"human over the loop" forecasting.
Forecast Accuracy Helps Inform Businesses, People and
Marketers
The Weather Company, the world's leading weather
provider,iv delivers more than 25 billion forecasts
every day to more than two billion devices. The Weather Channel has
been named a top 5 most trusted consumer brand in the
U.S.v The Weather Channel app was even recognized by the
World Meteorological Organization's 2020 International Weather App
Awards for usefulness, reliability and quality of
information.vi
The accuracy of forecasts within IBM's weather products is
critical not only for keeping consumers informed, but also for
delivering AI for business to marketers, though IBM Watson
Advertising, and to customers across industries to help them
prepare for and respond to weather.
For more information about The Weather Company, an IBM Business,
visit https://newsroom.ibm.com/the-weather-company. For more on
IBM, visit IBM.com.
i The Weather Channel's global percent of top
rankings averaged over all forecast lead days (1-9) during 2020 was
at least 3.5 times higher than any other weather provider studied.
Derived by IBM using data from: ForecastWatch, Global and Regional
Weather Forecast Accuracy Overview, 2017-2020,
https://www.forecastwatch.com/AccuracyOverview2017-2020,
commissioned by IBM.
ii ForecastWatch, Global and Regional Weather Forecast
Accuracy Overview, 2017-2020,
https://www.forecastwatch.com/AccuracyOverview2017-2020,
commissioned by IBM.
iii Derived by IBM using data from: ForecastWatch,
Global and Regional Weather Forecast Accuracy Overview, 2017-2020.
https://www.forecastwatch.com/AccuracyOverview2017-2020,
commissioned by IBM.
iv According to Comscore, The Weather Company,
parent of The Weather Channel, is the largest provider of weather
forecasts worldwide based on total monthly unique visitors in 2020.
Comscore Media Metrix®, Worldwide Rollup Media Trend,
News/Information – Weather category incl. [P] Weather Company, The
and [M] Weather Channel, The, Jan-Dec.
2020 avg.
v According to Morning Consult, January 2020:
https://morningconsult.com/most-trusted-brands/
vi International Weather App Awards, World
Meteorological Organization, Dec.
2020,
https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/wmo-announces-winners-of-weather-apps-awards-and-calendar-competition
Media contact:
Melissa Medori
mmedori@us.ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM