As we move through the winter season, our meteorologists at WeatherWorks are focused on efficiency when preparing and delivering Certified Snowfall Totals® to our clients. In today’s world of instant gratification from social media to Amazon Prime delivery for shopping, we're often confronted with the same request… Can’t we have snowfall totals within 24 hours?? The quick answer is obviously yes, however, it's not that simple. The true solution involves the accuracy and integrity of our service, which your billing process heavily relies on.
Sure, there are times when reliable data is available immediately after a storm, but in order for WeatherWorks to remain the industry leader in providing accurate and reliable snow/ice verifications to over 3,000 clients, the certification process must require more than the desired 24 hours. Internal research indicates that WeatherWorks maintains an astounding 0.10% (one tenth of a percent) discrepancy rate out of 390,000 reports delivered during the 2018-19 season. A discrepancy is defined as a total that required an adjustment after being published due to further research. It is fair to assume that this number would be exponentially higher with 24 hour published reports.
The first problem with reports in 24 hours is the lack of data. Don’t risk your company’s reputation by utilizing incomplete totals! Figure 1 below shows a timelapse of available data over time. Notice how you WILL be missing some of the more reliable observations and totals in under 24 hours.
The second problem is that it takes time to extensively review and document the entire storm from start to end. If this was done in 24 hours, the review process would be inherently rushed. Even the more "reliable" airport measurements that report their total immediately following a storm have often been revised more than 24 hours after the event, which can result in hundreds if not thousands of dollars in billing differences.
When WeatherWorks meteorologists create Certified Snowfall Totals® reports, they collect, analyze and quality control a vast array of data from various public and private sources which include but are not limited to: our own snow spotters, NOAA official storm spotters, airport measurements (ASOS), Cooperative Observers, government agencies, colleges / universities, social media platforms and online forums. This data is then analyzed for spatial and temporal consistency using both objective tools (RADAR, web cams, liquid equivalents, contouring algorithms) and subjective measures (terrain, elevation), ensuring no biased observations are included in the analysis. Finally, the quality controlled dataset is used to generate snow or ice totals at a ZIP-code level.
You and your clients can be rest assured knowing that our Certified Snowfall Totals® service leaves no stone unturned. We'll leave you with accuracy above all else, backed by our double check certification process.
As always, you can contact us at 908-850-8600 anytime you have a question or concern, or you can check out certifiedsnowfalltotals.com to learn more about our verification service. Use Coupon Code STORM30 to save $30 off your next order!
