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TRANSCRIPT
GIS DATA SERVICES GUIDE
AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions
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QUICK GUIDE TO ACCUWEATHER GIS APIs
ACCUWEATHER GIS DATA SERVICES
AccuWeather provides REST-based data services that play a key role in ensuring the safety of company or organization employees and customers and the most effective use of resources in dealing with the challenges of weather. These are a portfolio of products that have been proven to be unmatched in meeting the needs of clients facing
weather emergencies such as can be expected in locations around the globe.
/ Benefits of the AccuWeather GIS Data ServicesGain rapid, enterprise-wide distribution of severe weather information and warnings. Your organization gains the
ability to quickly access all your weather information and warnings via GIS mapping applications. For rapid access
by all who require severe-weather information throughout an organization, clients turn to AccuWeather for its
real-time, web-service presentation of all of our weather information.
AccuWeather Premium Content provides the following benefits to clients:
• Mapping Technology: SkyGuard Data Services are designed to work with GIS client and server technology.
• Comprehensive: All relevant severe weather data is provided to help you protect your employees and others.
• Accessible: You gain rapid, enterprise-wide distribution of information, while customizing what personnel,
departments, and functions can see each type of weather warning and forecasts.
• Understandable: Quickly shows you exactly what is happening in your area with street-level accuracy
for your exact location.
• Easy: Because it communicates through your GIS applications, AccuWeather content is easy for your emergency
response team to use and for your IT staff to support. There is no requirement for special hardware, and there
is no special software to download and install.
AccuWeather makes available numerous Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for accessing map-based weather data.
Utilize our full suite of weather web services:
• Tile-based weather imagery, such as weather radar
• ArcGIS server hosted image and feature services
• Location-based weather forecast, current conditions and past weather data using an XML-based API
• SkyGuard Warnings, client-specific severe weather warnings created by AccuWeather meteorologists
/ Weather Imagery (Tile Service)Start your map with high-resolution, street-level Doppler
weather that automatically updates.
/ Location-Based Weather (XML API)Add current conditions and weather forecasts, minute-
by-minute, hour-by-hour or day-by-day out to 45 days.
/ Weather Layers (Image and Feature Services)Add web map services to increase situational awareness
for severe weather.
/ Client-Specific Warnings Add SkyGuard warnings tailored to exact client needs,
issued by AES meteorologists independent of the
National Weather Service.
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ACCUWEATHER GIS DATA SERVICES
US SEVERE WEATHER PACKAGE
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U.S. SEVERE WEATHER PACKAGE
/ Radar, Street-Level High resolution (0.5 to 2km), Level 2 U.S. NEXRAD radar, updated every 5 minutes, animated with 5-minute steps for 3 hours,
showing areas of snow, mixed precipitation, ice, and rain. All Zoom Levels. Coverage Area: Contiguous United States.
AccuWeather hosts a tile service that can easily be consumed in web pages, web mapping APIs, such as Google, Bing,
Silverlight, and other common programming environments.
U.S. SEVERE WEATHER PACKAGE
/ U.S. and Global Current Conditions GIS REST Services:
• Over 13,000 surface observations world-wide
• Temperature, Dew Point, Sustained Winds, and Wind Gusts, plus thirty other common metrics
• Updated hourly, global coverage
• Map and feature service (ArcGIS version 10.22)
List of Parameters
Station Code Wind Direction Precipitation (in)
Observation Date Time Wind Speed (mph) Precipitation 1hr (in)
Day Flag (Y/N) Wind Gust (mph) Precipitation 3hr (in)
Weather Icon Pressure (mm Hg) Precipitation 6hr (in)
Weather Text Pressure Tendency Precipitation 9hr (in)
Cloud Cover (%) Visibility (mi) Precipitation 12hr (in)
Ceiling (ft) Visibility Obstructions Precipitation 18hr (in)
Temperature (F) UV Index Precipitation 24hr (in)
Real Feel Temperature (F) Max Temperature 24hr (F) Snow On Ground (in)
Real Feel Temperature Shade (F) Min Temperature 24hr (F)
Apparent Temperature (F) Max Temperature 12hr (F)
Wind Chill Temperature (F) Min Temperature 12hr (F)
Dew Point (F) Max Temperature 6hr (F)
Relative Humidity (%) Min Temperature 6hr (F)
Temperature Departure 24hr (F)
/ NOAA, National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center ProductsGain live, real-time access to the following NOAA products:
• Polygon warnings
• Zone/county warnings
• River flood warnings
• Thunderstorm/tornado watchboxes
• Mesoscale discussions
National Weather Service Storm-Based, Polygon Warnings
Storm based warnings for severe thunderstorm, tornado, special marine, marine weather statements involving thunderstorms,
flash flood, and flood. Not as site specific as AccuWeather client specific SkyGuard warnings. Storm based warnings from the
National Weather Service can provide a focus area within a county for a particular hazard. Coverage Area: United States.
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U.S. SEVERE WEATHER PACKAGEU.S. SEVERE WEATHER PACKAGE
NWS Zone and County Warnings
With the AccuWeather processing system, over 130 discrete types of bulletins are processed within seconds
of their arrival into our high capacity and redundant processing system. Coverage Area: United States.
NWS River Forecast Center (RFC) River Flood Warnings
Provide river flood watches, warnings and advisories indicating the cause for flooding, expected start time of the flood,
crest time and flood end time for flooding occurring at points along rivers. Coverage Area: United States.
Thunderstorm/Tornado Watchboxes
Also called Aviation Convective Watch Outlines, or “watch parallelograms”, issued by the Storm Prediction Center showing broad
areas at risk from severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Offers automatic support for watch replacements and early cancellations.
These parallelograms are not the official watch area, but provide an overview of risk areas.
The Thunderstorm/Tornado Watchboxes layer will display warnings when issued by the NWS. Type of warning is indicated by color.
Coverage Area: United States.
Mesoscale Discussions
Discussions written by meteorologists at the Storm Prediction Center detailing areas where severe thunderstorm or tornado watches
are likely or unlikely as well as specialized areas of heavy snow, ice or winter mixed precipitation. Polygon areas and text are both
available. Issued and transmitted as needed by National Weather Service meteorologists. Coverage Area: United States.
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U.S. SEVERE WEATHER PACKAGEU.S. SEVERE WEATHER PACKAGE
/ AccuWeather Storm Path™
Shows the predicted path of severe storms for the next 45 minutes. Visualize where a storm will go and learn the intensity.
Storms paths are categorized in 5 types:
• Potential Tornado Rotation
• Severe Rotation
• Severe Hail (> 1 inch)
• Hail
• Heavy Rainstorm
The cone is separated into 15-minute segments. Based on proprietary AccuWeather technology.
/ Local Storm Reports (LSR’s) from the Storm Prediction CenterGenerated from 911 centers, emergency managers, weather spotters, broadcast meteorologists, etc. and detail local weather events
that have occurred – tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, high winds, lightning related damage/injuries, snowfall and ice amounts
(where used). Coverage Area: United States.
/ U.S. WildfiresThis product contains data indicating the perimeter for active and non-active wildfires in the U.S. This data is collected from
various public agencies, and measurements are taken by infrared and other GPS-based detection methods. Polygons are updated
once per day in the morning and show “new” areas where fire perimeters are reported that were not reported previously.
Wildfires that continue to burn are shown as “Active” and this data indicates where the fires have burned out.
/ Global EarthquakesEarthquake displays of the epicenter, location, depth, magnitude, intensity and scope of shaking for anywhere on the globe
updated within minutes of occurrence.
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ACCUWEATHER GIS DATA SERVICES
REAL-TIME LIGHTNING LAYER
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REAL-TIME LIGHTNING LAYERREAL-TIME LIGHTNING LAYER
This lightning feature provides cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in real-time:
• Data is updated constantly in real-time on ArcGIS Server
• North American coverage
• Location of strike (Lat/Lon)
• Polarity (plus/minus)
• Cloud to Cloud and Cloud to Ground
• Sold by size of geographic region.
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ACCUWEATHER GIS DATA SERVICES
CURRENT CONDITIONS & FORECASTS
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CURRENT CONDITIONS AND FORECASTSCURRENT CONDITIONS AND FORECASTS
/ AccuWeather ForecastsUse the AccuWeather API, and click anywhere on land in the world to get an hour-by-hour and day-by-day forecast from
AccuWeather. The AccuWeather API provides subscribers access to location based weather data via a simple RESTful web interface.
Refer to api.accuweather.com for listing of the weather parameters for the AccuWeather forecast.
/ LocationsGeneral Information
• Subscribers may search for world wide regions, countries, administrative areas, and locations.
• There are three types of locations that can be queried: cities, points of interest, and postal codes.
• Use GeoLookup searching in order to search for a location via latitude and longitude coordinates.
• Data is available in more than 100 languages and dialects.
Cities
• More than 2 million searchable locations, including 400,000 verified locations.
• Many cities have alternate names, or aliases, defined to provide flexibility when searching for a particular location. Aliases are
used to account for common alternate spellings (Saint Louis, St. Louis, St Louis), historical names (Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon),
and accepted alternate names (Derry, Londonderry).
Postal Codes
Verified postal code searching is available for the following countries, with the root level of the code in bold:
• Canada: Follows the format A0A 0A0. All lookups are based on the Forward Sortation Areas, or FSA, part of the postal code.
• Germany: Follows the format 00000. Many of the postal code names are available in German as well as English.
• United Kingdom: Follows the format A0 0AA, A00 0AA, AA0 0AA, AA00 0AA, A0A 0AA, or AA0A 0AA. All lookups are based on
the Postcode Sector. The UK Postal Code system also includes support for the following areas: Guernsey, Isle of Man, and Jersey.
• United States: Follows the format 00000. The US Postal Code system also includes support for the following areas: American Samoa,
Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
Unverified postal code searching is available for the following countries: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil,
Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands,
New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland. A list of the formats for each of these postal
codes is available.
/ XML REST APIAccuWeather also has an XML based weather API that can be programmed into any web page or web mapping application.
Programmatically add:
• Over 3 million place locations
• Current conditions
• Hourly forecast (up to 240 hours)
• Daily forecast (up to 25 days)
Please refer to api.accuweather.com for the most up-to-date API documentation.
Detailed local current conditions can be displayed using the AccuWeather API tool.
Area (square miles) Radius (mi)
Weather Text UV Index Text
Weather Icon Visibility (mi/km)
Is Day Time Obstructions To Visibility
Temperature (C/F) Cloud Cover (%)
RealFeel Temperature™ (C/F) Ceiling (ft/m)
RealFeel Temperature Shade™ (C/F) Pressure (mm Hg/mbar)
Relative Humidity (%) Pressure Tendency
Dew Point (C/F) Past 24-hour Temperature Departure (F/C)
Wind (mph/kph) Apparent Temperature (F/C)
Wind Gust (mph/kph) Wind Chill Temperature (F/C)
UV Index Precipitation Last 1hr (in/mm)
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CURRENT CONDITIONS AND FORECASTSCURRENT CONDITIONS AND FORECASTS
/ AccuWeather MinuteCast™Provides minute-by-minute weather forecasts for the next two hours, showing precipitation type and intensity or no precipitation,
and start and end times for precipitation. Hyper-localized and up-to-date for your exact location, where precipitation tracked
at a 0.6 square mile resolution, refreshes every 5 minutes.
Data Available in the API:
1. Summary Phrases: 2 hour, 1 hour
2. Intervals (displays the most impactful precipitation message for this time interval): 15 minutes, 5 minutes, Minute by Minute
3. Precipitation Types: Rain, snow, ice, wintry mix, dry
4. Intensity Phrases: Light or heavy (no phrase for moderate); also shown in “threshold”
5. AccuWeather Minutecast™ Locations Available For: Continental United States, Canada, New United Kingdom and Ireland,
New Japan, Soon Spain, Northwest Europe and Scandinavia
6. Languages: English
7. Intensity Colors: Colors match the radar to show intensity
Points of Interest
• Abbreviated as POI, a Point of Interest is frequently used to refer to business location, tourist location, or other well know site.
Common examples of POIs available are airports, stadiums, and parks.
• More than 50,000 searchable Points of Interest.
• More than 12,000 worldwide airports, including the ability to search by airport codes (FAA, ICAO, IATA codes supported).
Current Conditions
• Subscribers may search for current condition observations for locations world wide.
Forecasts
• Daily and hourly forecast searches require a location key. Please use the Location API in order to obtain the location
key for your desired location.
• Daily forecasts may be retrieved for 1 day, 5 days, 10 days, 15 days, 25 days, and 45 days.
• Hourly forecasts may be retrieved for 1 hour, 12 hours, 24 hours (~1 day), 72 hours (~3 days), 120 hours (~5 days), and 240 hours (~10 days).
• Forecasts are available in more than 100 languages and dialects.
• Daily and hourly forecast responses are returned in either metric or imperial units. The units can be specified by passing
in metric=true for metric in the url. By default, imperial units are returned.
Local Weather
• Subscribers may search for current condition observations, forecasts and satellite and/or radar imagery for locations worldwide.
• Local Weather searches require a location key. Please use the Location API in order to obtain the location key for
your desired location.
• Includes current condition observations, photos displaying current condition observations (optional), 10 day forecasts,
12 hour forecasts, and satellite and/or radar imagery.
Photos
• Photos can be obtained by passing “getPhotos=true” into the Current Conditions API and the Local Weather API.
• A list of photos in both landscape and portrait will be returned that represents the city requested and the weather conditions.
• The number of photos will vary depending on how many pictures are stored in the database. (No more than 10 pictures
[both landscape and portrait] of one size will be returned at a time).
• Five sizes of each picture are available. The application must specify the size desired by substituting the appropriate
size code into the link provided.
Weather History (Climatology)
• The AccuWeather API provides subscribers access to location based climatology data via a simple RESTful web interface.
• Past daily observations (actuals), daily records and daily normals can be retrieved through the Climo API.
• Users can obtain climatology data for a specific date or for a specific year/month.
Translations
• The AccuWeather API provides subscribers access to location-based weather data via a simple RESTful web interface.
• Languages: Subscribers may get a list of all languages, search for a language ID for a given culture code,
and/or search for a culture code for a given language ID.
• Translations: Subscribers may search for a translation of a specific phrase in a desired language, search for all phrases
that match the given text, and/or search for translations in a desired language for a specific group.
• Groups include: US Warning Types, Canada Warning Types, Last Actions for Warnings, Days of Week, Icons, Wind Directions,
Pressure Tendencies, and Air Quality Types.
• Subscribers can also search for available translation groups. More groups will be added soon to expand upon the translations API.
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ACCUWEATHER GIS DATA SERVICES
CANADA SEVERE WEATHER PACKAGE
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CANADA SEVERE WEATHER PACKAGECANADA SEVERE WEATHER PACKAGE
/ Environment Canada RadarUpdated every 15 minutes with snow, mix, ice, and rain precipitation mask.
/ Environment Canada WarningsDisplayed in real-time, identify the details of each warning:
• Areas of Impact: Region or Sub-Region
• Natural Disasters: Dust Storm, Hurricane, Storm Surge
• Severe Weather: Rainfall, Severe Thunderstorm, Tornado, Wind
• Winter Weather: Blizzard, Extreme Temperatures, Freeze, Frost, Snow Squall, Winter Storm
Since AccuWeather processes warnings down to the sub-region level, as issued by Environment Canada (EC), we are able to display
the information at a higher resolution than even displayed on the EC website.
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ACCUWEATHER GIS DATA SERVICES
GLOBAL WEATHER PACKAGE
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GLOBAL WEATHER PACKAGEGLOBAL WEATHER PACKAGE
/ Global Weather Package• Use local weather from countries around the world to get the benefit of real-time situational awareness.
• Keep track of severe weather for overseas assets.
• Track weather for staff and employees wherever they travel.
• AccuWeather is the only commercial source for this severe weather data from around the world.
This catalog lists the data we currently have available in GIS data services:
• We supply current and forecast conditions for nearly any location around the globe.
• We provide high-resolution radar for many countries.
• We provide authoritative weather warnings issued by national meteorological agencies for many countries.
• We are constantly adding new countries to our database systems, so please inquire for our latest catalog
of international weather data.
/ Current Conditions and Weather ForecastsGIS REST Services:
• Over 13,000 surface observations world-wide
• Temperature, Dew Point, Sustained Winds, and Wind Gusts, plus thirty other common metrics
• Updated hourly, global coverage
• Map and feature service (ArcGIS version 10.22)
List of Parameters
Station Code Wind Direction Precipitation (in)
Observation Date Time Wind Speed (mph) Precipitation 1hr (in)
Day Flag (Y/N) Wind Gust (mph) Precipitation 3hr (in)
Weather Icon Pressure (mm Hg) Precipitation 6hr (in)
Weather Text Pressure Tendency Precipitation 9hr (in)
Cloud Cover (%) Visibility (mi) Precipitation 12hr (in)
Ceiling (ft) Visibility Obstructions Precipitation 18hr (in)
Temperature (F) UV Index Precipitation 24hr (in)
Real Feel Temperature (F) Max Temperature 24hr (F) Snow On Ground (in)
Real Feel Temperature Shade (F) Min Temperature 24hr (F)
Apparent Temperature (F) Max Temperature 12hr (F)
Wind Chill Temperature (F) Min Temperature 12hr (F)
Dew Point (F) Max Temperature 6hr (F)
Relative Humidity (%) Min Temperature 6hr (F)
Temperature Departure 24hr (F)
/ Global Weather RadarYou will know when it is raining in countries such as Japan, the United Kingdom and northwestern Europe, Spain plus
all the Scandinavian countries.
Europe Radar
There are several sources of radar coverage for Europe. AccuWeather has radar data feeds that cover the following areas:
• United Kingdom and Ireland
• Northwest (Continental) Europe
• Scandinavia
• Spain
/ Pan-European Weather Radar
/ United Kingdom and Ireland
/ Coverage Area for Europe
/ Western (Continental) Europe
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GLOBAL WEATHER PACKAGEGLOBAL WEATHER PACKAGE
/ Scandinavia
/ Japan Sample Radar
/ Spain
/ Japan Radar Coverage Area
Japan Radar
Radar for Japan is provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and displays the composite imagery of where precipitation
is occurring in and around Japan. Radar is updated every 5 minutes and displays on zoom levels 1 through 11. No precipitation mask
is applied. At this time this radar is not animated. Each pixel is 1km by 1km. Example radar is shown below. The coverage area is also
shown below.
Quick Facts for Global Weather Radar Imagery
Area Coverage Area Update (min)
Animated via API(1) Color Key Resolution Zoom Level Source
USA Contiguous U.S. 5 min Yes Snow, Ice, Rain, Mixed
.4km to 2km
1 to 18 NOAA
Canada Highly populated areas of Canada
10 to 15 mins
No Snow, Ice, Rain, Mixed
1km 1 to 13 Environment Canada
UK & Ireland
Great Britain, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Wales
5 min No None 1 km 1 to 11 UK Met Office
Northwest Europe
France, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Western Slovakia, Western Hungary
15 min No None 4km 1 to 11 UK Met Office
Scandinavia Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia
15 min No None 2km 1 to 11 Finnish Met Institute
Japan Japan Archipelago from Hokkaido to Mainland Japan to Okinawa and Ishigaki
5 min No None 1km 1 to 11 Japan Meteorological
Agency
Spain Spain and Portions of Portugal
15 min No None 4km 1 to 11 Agencia Estatal de Meteorología
Germany 5 min No None 2km 1 to 11 DWD
Caribbean Lesser Antilles Caribbean Island chain including the following major islands and their associated island countries: Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barths, Saba, St. Eustatius, Antigua & Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados, and Tobago
15 min No None 2km 1 to 11 MeteoFrance
/ Figure 9 Example Caribbean Radar / Figure 10 Caribbean Radar Coverage Area
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GLOBAL WEATHER PACKAGEGLOBAL WEATHER PACKAGE
/ Official International Weather Warnings• AccuWeather is the only U.S.-based commercial weather company that negotiates agreements with official weather
agencies from countries around the world.
• Warnings are updated in real-time within seconds of them being issued by the national weather agency.
• Available in ArcGIS REST map and feature services.
• The highest spatial resolution warnings available.
Currently available National Weather Warnings direct from the Official Meteorological Agency for each country:
• United States
• Canada
• United Kingdom
• Germany
• Poland
• China
For the rest of Europe, AccuWeather has lower resolution severe weather warnings for:
Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France,
Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Latvia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro,
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Slovenia, and Slovakia.
United Kingdom Severe Weather Warnings from the UK MET Office:
• Geographic Coverage: United Kingdom (Great Britain, Scotland, Wales Northern Ireland); does not include Ireland
• Weather Hazard Types: Rain, Wind, Snow, Ice and Fog
• Color Codes (likelihood of event and potential risk of impact):
o YELLOW (Be Aware)
o AMBER (Be Prepared)
o RED (Take action)
• Differences vs. NOAA National Weather Service in the United States: Areas tend to be large and lead times tend to be longer.
Longer valid times. Do not have severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings.
• It can be useful to navigate to the UK Met web site for severe weather at this link.
Global Warnings: Yellow Alert for Rain
NAME Yellow Alert for Rain
PRIORITY 28
START_DATE_TIME May 20, 2014
END_DATE_TIME May 20, 2014
GEOCODE_NAME Subregion: East Riding of Yorkshire
GEOCODE_TYPE SR
LAST_ACTION New
COUNTRY_CODE GB
COLOR Yellow
CATEGORY Flood
TEXT_DATE_TIME May 19, 2014
LANGUAGE_CODE en
WARNING_TEXT Thundery downpours are expected to develop on Tuesday afternoon, lasting into the
evening. The public should be aware of the risk of spray on roads and local surface
water flooding. The air mass over the area will turn more unstable through Tuesday
afternoon, allowing scattered, heavy showers to develop. 10-15 mm in the hour is likely
locally, though many places will escape the worst. The public is advised to take extra
care, further information and advice can be found here: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/
weather/uk/links.html.
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GLOBAL WEATHER PACKAGEGLOBAL WEATHER PACKAGE
Germany Severe Weather Warnings from the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD)
Publicly issued weather warnings are provided in Germany by DWD, Deutscher Wetterdienst – the National Meteorological Service
of Germany. These warnings alert the public in advance of severe weather conditions in Germany so that appropriate action may be
taken to reduce potential impacts.
It can be useful to refer to the DWD website to learn more information, or to view these same warnings.
The text of the warning is displayed in German language only, as this is the only official rendering permitted by the DWD.
The following are the hazardous weather types that DWD issues warnings for:
German English
Wind Wind
Nebel Fog
Starkregen Heavy Rain
Dauerregen Long Duration Rain
Schneefall in Lagen bis 800m Snowfall at elevations up to 800m
Schneeverwehungen in Lagen bis 800m Drifting Snow at elevations up to 800m
Glätte Surface Ice
Glatteis Sheet Ice/Black Ice
örtlich Glatteis Areas of Sheet Ice/Black Ice
Tauwetter Thawing Weather
Starkes Tauwetter Strong Thawing Weather
Frost Frost
Gewitter Thunderstorms
Gewitter mit Hagel, Starkregen und/oder Orkan(artigen) Böen Thunder with hail, heavy rain and/or hurricane strength wind gusts
Gewitter mit Hagelschlag und/oder Starkregen und extremen Orkanböen
Thunder with hailstorm, and/or heavy rain and hurricane strength winds
Gewitter mit extrem heftigem Starkregen, Hagel und Sturm- bzw. Orkanböen
Thunder with extremely heavy rain, hail and storm to hurricane force winds
Hoher UV-Index High UV-Index
Hitze Heat
Each warning or alert is assigned a color based on the expected severity level of the event impacts. The colors for these severity levels
are shown below ranging from “extremely severe” – purple, to “warning” – yellow and a separate color – lavender, to indicate heat/
UV warnings:
The German warning areas follow the district level administrative divisions of Germany. These districts typically correspond to the
fourth level (rural district level) administrative boundaries. For clarification, this would be roughly equivalent to weather warnings
being issued by county in the US. These defined geographical regions have been mapped to existing cities and postal codes to
ensure the correct warnings are displayed for specific postal codes and cities.
The source “DWD” needs to be identified providing attribution.
/ Sample DWD German weather warning. / Figure 10 Caribbean Radar Coverage Area
Data Field Description
NAME Type of warning
WARNING TEXT Full text of warning
PRIORITY Numeric ranking of the overall importance of the warnings. The lower the number,
the more significant the warning is
START_DATE_TIME Time in GMT that the warning is valid
END_DATE_TIME Time in GMT when the warning expires
GEOCODE_NAME Name of geographic location, such as region or province
GEOCODE_TYPE Source of warning
LAST_ACTION Latest transaction to occur for the warning so that you understand where it is in its life-cycle (cancel, change, continue, correct, downgrade, expire, extend, new, upgrade)
COUNTRY_CODE DE, UK, US
COLOR Color for displaying warning
CATEGORY The categorical type of warning (fire, flood, hazard, marine, non-precipitation, severe, tropical, wind, winter)
TEXT_DATE_TIME Date time in Text
LANGUAGE_CODE Language used in warning text
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GLOBAL WEATHER PACKAGEGLOBAL WEATHER PACKAGE
Poland Severe Weather Warnings from Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMWM),
Poland’s National Meteorological Service
AccuWeather has an agreement in place to distribute the Poland Weather Warnings from the Institute of Meteorology
and Water Management (IMWM), Poland’s National Meteorological Service and official source for weather alerts in Poland.
The warnings we receive directly through the IMWM are issued at the District Level as opposed to the State level -
providing a much finer degree of detail.
The above maps provide an example of the difference in warning area precision displayed by different sources. The maps depict
warning areas in effect as displayed on both MeteoAlarm and IMWM for the same strong wind warning that was issued on 11/3/2014.
This map comparison shows the warning area is much more precise through IMWM (which is what AccuWeather utilizes) pinpointing
the individual counties where the warning is in effect. Equally important, you can see in this example that more than half of the
counties in each of these Polish States do not actually have a warning in effect, whereas on the MeteoAlarm map these areas are
shown to be impacted due to the larger warning areas used. Ensuring warnings are presented to the most detailed warning area
is a key component of our worldwide warning expansion.
Example Poland Weather Warning
Heavy rain, strong wind, freezing precipitation, strong storms/strong thunderstorms with hail, icing, blowing or drifting snow, strong
frost, snow, thaw, heavy snow, thunderstorms with hail, strong fog, hear, frost, fog intensively depositing rime.
Each warning is assigned a color based on the severity and potential risk of the impacts.
The severity level color scale used is consistent with the weather warning framework adopted by many other
European countries: red (most severe), orange, and yellow:
• Red: Expected to have dangerous meteorological phenomena that cause a large area very large damage or damage-sized disaster
and threat to life. Cease dangerous phenomenon activities. Recommend utmost caution and the need for frequent tracking
of messages and the development of the weather situation.
• Orange: Expected to have dangerous meteorological phenomena that cause a large loss of property and life threatening.
Dangerous phenomena in a strong way, to limit their activity. Use caution, the need to track the messages and the development
of the weather situation.
• Yellow: Expected to have dangerous meteorological phenomena that may cause material damage, possibly life threatening.
Doing business in terms of exposure to these factors is difficult and dangerous. Use caution, the need to track the messages
and the development of the weather situation.
/ MeteoAlarm State Level Map / IMWM District Level Map
China
AccuWeather is the only source of severe weather warnings issued by the China Meteorological Administration (CMA):
• Gale
• Rainstorm
• Typhoon
• Snowstorm
• Sandstorm
• Heat wave
• Lightning
• Road icing
• Heavy Fog
• Haze
• Hail
• Frost
• Cold Wave
There are also additional warnings available for China related to low temperatures, droughts,
and conditions that could lead to forest fires:
• Blue: Minor
• Yellow: Moderate
• Orange: Severe
• Red: Extreme
The full text of the weather warning is available in Simplified Chinese, example below:
Global Warnings: Orange Warning of Lightning
NAME Orange Warning of Lightning
START_DATE_TIME April 6, 2015 11:10:00 AM
END_DATE_TIME April 7, 2015 11:10:00 AM
GEOCODE_NAME :Xiangxi Prefecture
LAST_ACTION New
COLOR Orange
CATEGORY Severe
COUNTRY_CODE cn
WARNING_TEXT 湘西土家族苗族自治州06日23时发布雷电橙色预警 过去2小时泸溪县已经受雷电活动影响,并将持续,出现雷电灾害事故的可能性比较大,请注意防范。
DATE_TIME April 6, 2015 11:10:00 AM
©2016 AccuWeather, Inc. Proprietary & Confidential / 3938 / AccuWeather GIS Data Services Guide
GLOBAL WEATHER PACKAGEGLOBAL WEATHER PACKAGE
/ Global Weather HazardsAccuWeather meteorologists create a long-range forecast for hazardous weather conditions for many locations around the world.
Currently AccuWeather issues forecasts for the following weather conditions:
• Extreme High Temperatures (°F, °C)
• Extreme Low Temperatures (°F, °C)
• Severe Thunderstorms
• Sand Storm
• Tropical Cyclone
• Thunder Storms
• Heavy Rain (in, cm)
• Heavy Snow (in, cm)
• Ice Storms (in, cm)
• Wind Storms (mph, kph)
Areas of the globe with forecasts are Europe, Middle East, China, India and Southeast Asia.
Forecasts are not monitored for Africa and South America.
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SEVERE WEATHER FORECASTS BY ACCUWEATHER
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SEVERE WEATHER FORECASTS BY ACCUWEATHERSEVERE WEATHER FORECASTS BY ACCUWEATHER
/ Storm Potential Notices for North America Benefits:
Perform analytics and make timely decisions based on severe weather forecasts 24 to 72 hours ahead of major storms. With this new
service, utilities can pre-position repair crews to be ready to return downed power lines to service, retail operations can send addition-
al inventory to avoid stock-outs, stores can have sufficient backup power ready, and offices of small, medium, and large businesses
can decide specific time frames that locations can stay open, or when employees should be sent home or rescheduled. Manufactur-
ers, logistics/transporters, and retailers can all plan alternate supply chain plans for disrupted transit routes or ship ahead of the storm
and avoid inventory being stuck in the storm
Use the new digital GIS version of the Storm Potential Notice (SPN) to plot, map analyze and report the impact and action plans need-
ed to get ahead of major storms in order to protect your people, property, and profits.
Uses:
• Retail inventory
• Power grids
• Surface transportation
• Office closings
• Travel to work
• Supply chains
• Financial service branches and ATMs
• Re-route shipments
• Pre-position repair crews
Example:
An incredibly large and fierce winter storm was forecasted in a January 23, 2016 SPN. By adding an overlay of retail store locations,
one can determine which stores could experience the heaviest amount of ice and snow from this storm.
Features:
• Issued 2 to 5 days ahead of large storms in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
• Covers ice, snow, thunderstorm, tornado, derechos, coastal flooding, freezing rain, flooding rain, blizzards,
and dangerous sub-zero temperatures.
• Impacts Storms that can damage power supply grids, surface transportation, office closings, travel to work,
supply chains, financial service branches and ATMs. Re-route shipments. Pre-position maintenance and repair crews.
• Updated twice a day; Ready for early morning storm weather-planning meetings and provides updates
in throughout the day in case conditions are to change overnight or early next morning.
Formats:
Available as GIS map and feature services.
Example:
This forecast covers the full extent of the storm all the way into Canada, while the NWS watches and warnings
do not extend pass the US border. NWS bulletins do not easily inform you of the amount of snow, ice or wind.
/ Storm Potential Outlooks Benefits:
Perform analytics and make decisions on based on severe weather forecasts up to a week ahead of major storms. With this
long-range severe weather outlook, organizations in the utility, retail, transportation, manufacturing, insurance, health care,
and financial industries can all start long-range plans for disruption to their businesses. This solution is highly customer
focused with specificity to meet customer needs in order to enact positive response and planning ahead of severe weather.
Use the new digital GIS version of the Long-Range Storm Potential Notice (SPN) to plot, map analyze and report the impact
and action plans needed to get ahead of major storms.
Features:
• Issued Outlook 5 to 10 days ahead of large storms in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
• Covers winter weather situations and severe weather outbreaks.
• Impacts Storms that can damage power supply grids, surface transportation, office closings, travel to work, supply chains,
financial service branches and ATMs. Re-route shipments. Pre-position maintenance and repair crews.
• Updated when forecasters believe there is an event that is likely to impact large areas of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
These outlooks are issued on an as-needed- basis.
©2016 AccuWeather, Inc. Proprietary & Confidential / 4544 / AccuWeather GIS Data Services Guide
SEVERE WEATHER FORECASTS BY ACCUWEATHERSEVERE WEATHER FORECASTS BY ACCUWEATHER
Formats:
Available as GIS map and feature services.
Example:
An incredibly large and fierce winter storm was forecasted on January 26, 2016 – outlined by an AccuWeather Long-Range SPN.
By adding an overlay of manufacturing and distribution centers, supply chain professionals can get a head start on making plans
for disruptions to normal routes. Retailers can start sending additional inventory before the demand spikes. Note, these are sent
well before any government warnings are issued, giving retailers and other users a head start before the public is warned.
/ Winter Disruption ForecastsBenefits:
What is “the impact” from a winter storm? Using historical weather data and damage reports, a disruption index is created that will
show the over risk or disruption a severe weather event will cause. The custom disruption index allows users to identify what threshold
is required to begin enacting plans for a smart response to the severe weather. We all know that 5 inches of snow in Buffalo, NY is a lot
different than 5 inches of snow in Atlanta, GA. The winter disruption forecast helps answer that question in a visual disruption map.
Features:
• Includes forecasts for snow, rain, ice, wind and cold temperatures.
• Updated once-per-day, or more often, if needed.
• Provides 2-1/2 day forecast of winter storms.
• Forecasts of the disruption and the forecast of the weather.
• Includes four levels of disruption: Low, moderate, high and severe.
• Areas with multiple perils can be combined into a final overall index.
Example:
• What snowfall threshold leads to a high disruption level? See below to find out.
Disruption Index Impact Definition
2 Very Low Highest event occurrence and no damage
4 Low High event occurrence and minimal damage
6 Moderate Moderate event occurrence and significant damage
8 High Low event occurrence and severe damage
10 Extreme Lowest event occurrence and extreme damage
Example:
Below is the snow disruption forecast in relation to projected snowfall amounts prior to the 2016 January Blizzard.
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ACCUWEATHER GIS DATA SERVICES
TROPICAL STORM & HURRICANE FORECASTS
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TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORECASTSTROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORECASTS
This guide is meant as an introduction and a refresher document for new and current customers. The guide describes all the various
data services for tropical services. New! Overall AccuWeather offers forecasts from three sources that cover all the tropical cyclone
typhoons and hurricanes that occur around the world.
Included as part of the tropical data packages are forecast and summary data from NOAA for the National Hurricane Center (NHC)
and Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), which is part of NOAA.
The NHC is responsible for issuing forecasts for the tropical storms and hurricanes that can impact the United States. While, the JTWC
issues forecasts for the remainder of the world’s tropical cyclones and typhoons in the Pacific and Indian oceans.
/ AccuWeather Hurricane Forecast• World-renowned meteorologists delivering extraordinarily accurate forecasts
• Our own independent forecasts, for valuable “second opinion”
• Updated one hour before National Hurricane Center, giving you earliest information
• Only source of tropical outlooks out 10+ days, for maximum time to plan response
• Meteorologists available 24x7x365 for consultation to address specific concerns about your business
Global Coverage
Continent AccuWeather NHC JTWC
North America X X Yes
Asia X
India X
Australia X
The detailed hurricane forecasts issued from our own team of meteorologists include forecast elements that speak directly
to the impact of rain and wind from the hurricane.
This information is communicated via Premium Content. You will be able to turn off and on layers of weather information, storm track,
hurricane models, storm surge and many other variables, to best determine which of your sites will be impacted and to what extent.
These forecast elements assist clients to ensure employee safety by providing key inputs to your disaster mitigation planning and
business continuity planning.
Coverage Area:
Atlantic Hurricane Basin (North America), Gulf of Mexico, East Pacific Hurricane Basin (Mexico), Central Pacific
Hurricane Basin (Hawaii)
The AccuWeather Impact Forecast allows you to visualize the threat that hurricane activity poses relative to your location(s).
Provides interactive access to the following forecast elements:
Global Coverage
Layer Name DescriptionAccuWeather Only: Not available
from the National Hurricane Center
Current Position The current location of the storm.
Forecast Points Forecast points for the storm.
Time Lines The time when the storm is expected to reach certain locations.
Forecast Track The track line between forecast points.
Window of Movement Potential areas where the hurricane may travel.
Hurricane Wind Radii The extent of hurricane force winds (74 mph)
from the center of the chosen storm.
Tropical Storm Wind Radii The extent of tropical storm force winds (39 mph)
from the center of the chosen storm.
Watches and Warnings All U.S. and international tropical watches
and warnings in effect.
AccuWeather Only
Hurricane Wind Probability The probability of hurricane force, or higher, winds.
The forecast is a percentage of winds exceeding 74
mph. These forecasts are made for land falling storms only.
Storm Surge The forecast for storm surge at the coastline of a land
falling tropical system. Surge does not represent
a forecast of depth or extent of inland surge.
AccuWeather Only
Rainfall Potential The forecast for rainfall for the duration of the
chosen storm. Rainfall potential forecasts are made
for land falling storms only.
AccuWeather Only
Risk Assessment The forecast for risk to lives and property over the
24-hour period starting at the forecast time of the
chosen storm. Risk assessment considers the level of
risk due to high wind, storm surge, tornado formation
and overall rainfall forecasts are made for land falling
storms only.
AccuWeather Only
Maximum Sustained Winds The forecast for the maximum sustained wind speed
for the chosen storm. Maximum sustained wind
forecasts are made for land falling storms only.
AccuWeather Only
Maximum Wind Gusts The forecast for the maximum wind gusts for the
chosen storm. Wind gust forecasts are made
for land falling storms only.
AccuWeather Only
©2016 AccuWeather, Inc. Proprietary & Confidential / 5150 / AccuWeather GIS Data Services Guide
TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORECASTSTROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORECASTS
AccuWeather EyePath™
• Forecast Points: The AccuWeather forecast points
for the chosen storm.
• Forecast Track: The AccuWeather track line between
forecast points.
• Window of Movement: Shows potential areas
where the hurricane may travel.
• The AccuWeather forecast timeline shows when
the storm will reach certain locations.
Watches and Warnings
• Show the U.S. and international tropical watches
and warnings in effect.
Radius Winds
• Radius of Tropical Storm Force Winds: The extent
of tropical storm force winds (39 mph) from the center
of the chosen storm.
• Radius of Hurricane Force Winds: The extent of hurricane
force winds (74 mph) from the center of the chosen storm.
Rainfall Forecast
• The AccuWeather forecast for rainfall over the duration
of the chosen storm. Rainfall potential forecasts are made
for land falling storms only.
Storm Surge
• The AccuWeather forecast for storm surge at the coastline
of a land falling tropical system. Surge does not represent
a forecast of depth or extent of inland surge.
Maximum Wind Gusts
• The AccuWeather forecast for the maximum wind gusts for
the chosen storm. Wind gust forecasts are made for land
falling storms only.
Maximum Sustained Winds
• The AccuWeather forecast for the maximum sustained wind
speed for the chosen storm. Maximum sustained wind
forecasts are made for land falling storms only.
Risk to Life and Property
• The AccuWeather forecast for risk to lives and property over
the 24-hour period starting at the forecast time of the chosen
storm. Risk assessment forecasts are made for land falling
storms only. Considers the level of risk due to high wind,
storm surge, tornado formation and over all rainfall.
©2016 AccuWeather, Inc. Proprietary & Confidential / 5352 / AccuWeather GIS Data Services Guide
TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORECASTSTROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORECASTS
Probability of Hurricane Force Winds
• The AccuWeather forecast of the probability of hurricane
force winds or higher. The forecast is a percentage of winds
exceeding 74 mph. These forecasts are made for land falling
storms only.
/ Government Tropical ForecastsIncluded as part of the tropical data packages are forecast and summary data from NOAA for the National Hurricane Center (NHC)
and Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC). The NHC is responsible for issuing forecasts for the tropical storms and hurricanes that
can impact the United States. While, the JTWC issues forecasts for the remainder of the world’s tropical cyclones and typhoons
in the Pacific and Indian oceans.
/ National Hurricane Center Forecasts and Archive SkyGuard Online will display forecast and data from the NHC for storms that impact North America. Layers include the current
position, forecast points, historical position summary and historical wind swath. All forecasts made by the NHC since 2007 are easily
retrievable though our Archive data services.
AccuWeather Hurricane Forecast History
• All forecasts made by AccuWeather since 2007 are
easily retrievable though our Archive data services.
/ Global Tropical Cyclone Forecasts SkyGuard Online will display forecast and data from the JTWC for storms that impact Asia, India and Australia.
Layers include the current position and forecast points.
/ Figure 11: Global Tropical Cyclone Map Display
Global Tropical Basins
Abbreviation Ocean Name Alternate Ocean Name Land areas potentially impacted
AL Atlantic North Atlantic Atlantic coast of Canada and United States; Gulf of Mexico; Caribbean; and the eastern coast of Mexico
EP East Pacific Northeast pacific Western coast of Mexico and Baja California
CP Central Pacific Hawaii
NP North Pacific Ocean Northwest Pacific China, Hong Kong, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, plus numerous Oceania islands such as Guam, the Northern Marianas and Palau.
SI Southern Indian Ocean Southeast Indian Australia and Indonesia, east of longitude 90 East
SP South Pacific Fiji, New Zealand and countries west of the international dateline
NI North Indian India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, and Pakistan
©2016 AccuWeather, Inc. Proprietary & Confidential / 5554 / AccuWeather GIS Data Services Guide
TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORECASTSTROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORECASTS
The map below shows the seven (7) tropical cyclone basins in the world. Each part of the world uses different
terminology for tropical cyclones.
As a point of detail, the AccuWeather GIS data services splits the location for tropical events into oceans, while the global tropical
cyclones are forecasts for areas known as basins. This difference in terminology only impacts Australia, where the basin is known as
the Australian Region, while AccuWeather uses the South Pacific and Southern Indian oceans to categorize the oceans where tropical
cyclones and typhoons occur.
Description of Data Fields
Layer Name Description Available Data Fields
Current Position The current location of the storm. Ocean Year Depression Valid Date Time Advisory Number Latitude Longitude Movement Direction Movement Speed Minimum Pressure Maximum Sustained Wind Speed Maximum Wind Gust speed Subtropical System Time Label
Forecast Points Forecast points for the storm. Time Label Ocean Year Depression Valid Date Time Latitude Longitude Maximum Sustained Wind Speed Maximum Wind Gust speed
Position Summary Official government record of tropical storm and hurricane path.
Ocean Year Depression Valid Date Time Advisory Number Latitude Longitude Movement Direction Movement Speed Minimum Pressure Maximum Sustained Wind Speed Maximum Wind Gust speed Subtropical System Time Label
Wind Swath The extent of winds (34, 50 or 64 knots) from the center of the chosen storm.
Radii (34, 50 or 64 knots) StormID Year Ocean Depression Forecast Start Date Time in GMT Forecast End Date Time in GMT
Basin Terminology
North Atlantic Hurricane
East and Central Pacific Hurricane
West Pacific and Japan Typhoon
North Indian Ocean Tropical Cyclone
Southwestern Indian Ocean Tropical Cyclone
Southeastern Indian Ocean (Australia) Tropical Cyclone
Southern Pacific Ocean Tropical Cyclone
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SEVERE WEATHER HISTORY (U.S.A. ONLY)
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SEVERE WEATHER HISTORY (U.S.A. ONLY)SEVERE WEATHER HISTORY (U.S.A. ONLY)
/ Rotation TracksPolygons representing areas where low-altitude rotation has been detected in the atmosphere using all available high-resolution
radar data in the United States. Low-altitude rotation can be an indicator of a tornado – and while the rotation tracks product cannot
indicate whether a tornado was on the ground or not - increased values of rotational intensity tend to indicate the potential for
damaging winds from a severe thunderstorm or tornado. The product provides contours representing intensity of rotation
over the last 24 hours.
Coverage Area: United States
Layer Definition
• Data Formats: REST service
• Date Time: Date and time of radar analysis for rotation
• Threat Level: Numerical value of threat level from rotation
• Rotation: Qualitative String representation of rotation level (weak to extreme)
/ Hail SwathsHail swaths are derived from a national mosaic of high-resolution level 2 Doppler radar, and processed using proprietary algorithms
that show areas where hail may have fallen; the size of hail is estimated (range of 0.75” to 4.25” in 0.25” increments). Data is a series
of closed polygon areas, with each area corresponding to a particular size increment. Updated hourly and daily. Actual ground truth
reports from storm spotters will overlay with the contours.
• Hail swaths displayed in 14 color-coded areas: indicating sizes starting 3/4” up to 4” in 1/4” increments.
• Hail swath data is mapped in standard Map and Feature services hosted on ArcGIS Server 10.
Allows users to overlay multiple days or add their own data sets.
• Hail swaths are aggregated into 24 hours worth of data for daily storm date reference with this data
being available each day at 12Z (7AM CDT) for the previous 24 hours.
Coverage Area: United States
Hail Swath Layer Definition
• Data Formats: REST service
• Value: Numerical value of hail analysis reported as a diameter in millimeters
• Date Time: Date and time of radar analysis for hail
• Hail Size: Numerical value of hail size reported as a diameter in inches
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SEVERE WEATHER HISTORY (U.S.A. ONLY)SEVERE WEATHER HISTORY (U.S.A. ONLY)
/ Rainfall Return PeriodEPI, Extreme Precipitation index, compares actual rainfall that has occurred in the previous 24 hours with climatological rainfall
frequency to determine how rare an actual 24-hour rainfall amount is. This product provides contours that represent the return
frequency for the observed rainfall in number of years – from 1 indicating a very common event to 100+ indicating a rare rainfall
amount for a given area. Rare rainfall events are associated with increased risk for flooding, depending on a variety of other factors.
Layer Definition
• Data Formats: REST service
• ID: ID number of polygon contour
• Interval: Return period in years reporting the frequency of rainfall recurrence
/ Rainfall EstimateQPE, Quantitative Precipitation Estimate is derived from a highly sophisticated algorithm to estimate rainfall utilizing Level 2 data
from the nationwide NEXRAD radar network. Precipitation estimates are created every hour for the previous 24 hours. Over 10,000
rain gauges are integrated into the QPE Algorithm to calibrate the radar-based estimates of rainfall using ground truth. This
approach yields the best nationwide rainfall estimate possible by filling the gaps between sparsely located rain gauges.
Coverage Area: United States
24-hour Rainfall, rain-gage adjusted, October 20, 2009 1200Z
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SKYGUARD WARNINGS
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SKYGUARD WARNINGSSKYGUARD WARNINGS
SkyGuard® Warnings from AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions protect your people and facilities in emergencies, while saving money
by reducing unnecessary responses to false alarms. SkyGuard warnings are customized to the severe weather threats and locations
that matter to you and that require your action, including tornadoes, hail, flooding, and much more. Delivered in the format that best
fits your operating processes, SkyGuard Warnings are backed by expert consultation to help you make the right decision.
SkyGuard Warnings are:
• Comprehensive: SkyGuard warnings include site-specific, customized, accurate warnings to help you protect your employees.
If receipt is not confirmed within two minutes, an AccuWeather meteorologist can follow-up to ensure you are notified.
• Actionable and Consistent: You gain clear guidance because AccuWeather’s SkyGuard warnings are tailored to your company’s
emergency preparedness procedures. Our warnings provide a single statement that can be used throughout the company
to ensure all are on the same page.
• Easily Understandable: SkyGuard quickly shows you exactly what is happening in your area with maps that highlight your exact
location. Pan, zoom and animate the highest resolution, most up-to-date radar – as well as displays of the latest lightning strikes
and local storm reports for accurate situational awareness.
• Intuitive and Hassle-Free: Because it communicates through your familiar web browser, SkyGuard is easy for your emergency
response team to use and for your IT staff to support. You choose the delivery method that integrates best for the way you operate.
There is no requirement for special hardware, no special software to download and install, and no hidden costs for support
and training.
• Customizable: It is easy to combine your own customized and site-specific information on branch locations, routes, emergency
contacts and more into the SkyGuard system, so that, when seconds count in an emergency, you have all the information you
need when responding to severe weather emergencies.
SkyGuard warning for flash flood issued for mobile users and for clients in the designated polygon area. Colored line segments are
warnings for the same flood, and mapped to railway track segments, on a milepost-to-milepost basis.
Weather Hazard Minimum Lead Time
Tornado 20 minutes
Lightning Warning 30 minutes
Winds 20 minutes
Hail 30 minutes
Tropical Storm, Hurricane, Cyclone, Typhoon 5 days
Geographic Coverage
AccuWeather is your one source for weather data for the entire globe, providing warnings for worldwide locations including
the United States, Europe, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, South America and Australia. AccuWeather issues pinpoint
alerts for your specific locations of interest including:
• A fixed location or locations, such as a factory or store
• Predefined geographic areas, such as a service footprint
• Segments, such as highways or pipelines
• Moving assets, where the warning follows the phone or other mobile device wherever it is carried by crews in the field
Data
All of our pinpoint weather content is converted into a wide variety of GIS-friendly formats in real time – as observations are
collected, value-added data are assimilated, proactive warnings are issued, and informative forecasts are created. This provides
you with the ability to ingest weather content into your own models, work-flows, and analytics.
We then deliver this GIS content to you for seamless integration into your interactive maps, operational work-flows, analysis pipelines,
and situational awareness tools. This creates a perfect storm of real-time, actionable, site-specific AccuWeather content and the data
about your business that matters to you.
SkyGuard warning for lightning for manufacturing, issued with 22 minutes off advance lead-time. This is for a single, point location.
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AVAILABLE HISTORY FOR LAYERS
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AVAILABLE HISTORY FOR LAYERSAVAILABLE HISTORY FOR LAYERS
AccuWeather does maintain an archive for some, but not all its premium content.
Access to archival data is an additional fee, please inquire.
Weather Type Weather Layer Name Current Archive
Temperature and Wind, Global Current_Conditions Real-time n/a
U.S. Hi-Res Radar L2 Radar Last 60 minutes n/a
U.S. National Weather Service Warnings US_Public_Warnings Real-time n/a
Real-time Lightning for North America Lightning Last 45 minutes n/a
NOAA, Trained Storm Spotters Local_Storm_Reports Last 24 hours To 2006
US Geologic Survey Earthquake Last 24 hours To 2010
U.S. Wildfires Wild_fire Last 24 hours To 1/2013
Canada Severe Weather Warnings Canadian_Public_Warnings Real-time n/a
AccuWeather Live, Active Hurricanes Tropical_Current Real-time n/a
Past Hurricanes Tropical_Historical To 2007 To 2007
NHC Live, Active Hurricane Forecast NHC_Tropical_Current Real-time n/a
NHC Past Hurricane Track
and Wind SwathNHC_Tropical_Historical To 2007 To 2007
JTWC ForecastsGlobal tropical cyclones and typhoons
Active only From 9/2013 onward
Hail Swath Area Hail Last 24 hours Last 12 months
Tornado Track, potential Tornado Last 24 hours Last 12 months
Rainfall QPE_Rainfall Last 24 hours Last 12 months
Flooding Potential Flood_Potential Last 24 hours Last 12 months
Global radar Global radar Last 2 hours n/a
International Warnings UK, Germany Real-time n/a
AccuWeather.com/EnterpriseSolutions