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Introduction to Weather Analytics &
User Guide to Beacon
Strictly Private and Confidential Not for Distribution©2016 Weather Analytics, LLC
About Weather Analytics
Weather Analytics is a leading data and analytics company based in Washington, DC and Dover, New Hampshire that offers historical and forecast weather and climate information worldwide. We answer global weather intelligence questions and provide solutions to businesses and organizations impacted by the state of the atmosphere. Our data combines over three decades of statistically-stable climate history as well as current and forecast weather content coupled with proprietary analytics methodologies.
Forecast Data Sources
Weather Analytics uses a blend of the following two data sources, available from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to produce the most accurate forecast data commercially available:
• Global Forecast System (GFS) model data• Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingestion System (MADIS)
observational data, which includes 40,000 ground stations from private and government surface station networks
By combining the best available forecast data with input from on-site or nearby ground sensors, Weather Analytics is able to:
• Focus the data to a very small footprint – 15x15 kilometers in the US, 30x30 km globally, including the poles and oceans
• Extrapolate the model data from 3 hour forecasts to hour-by-hour forecasts, which strengthens forecast accuracy and minimizes the latency (age) of the forecast
©2016 Weather Analytics, LLC
Innovation through Data
Conditions for Hail Forecasts
Weather Analytics - using key variables known to be conducive to hail - leverages extensive research conducted by NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) to derive a hail environment variable.
This hail variable identifies areas where the environment is favorable for hail of various sizes.
Conditions for Frost Forecasts
Weather Analytics - using high-resolution lower-atmospheric temperature and moisture data from NOAA - identifies regions that are likely to experience frost.
Geographic Coverage:
• 15x15 kilometer grid squares• Continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii
Weather Variables:
• Temperature (both heat and cold)• Conditions for frost• Conditions for hail• Rain• Freezing Rain• Snowfall• Wind (both gusts and sustained)
Beacon Coverage
Users will login with their username (email)
& password
First name, last name, email and password
will be parameters needed for account
registration
The “Forgot Password” link is available for
users who need to reset their password
credential
**Users of Internet Explorer will need
version 10.0 or greater for Beacon to
properly run**
Beacon can be found at: http://dashboard.weatheranalytics.com/beacon/
Beacon – Login Page
Once logged in, user account control
options will be available at the bar on
the left
Contacts
• The Contacts tab will allow the
Beacon user to edit the Names,
Emails, and the Agency associated
with each contact in their address
book
• For users who are agents
themselves, the Agency Name option
is automatically preconfigured for all
contacts. For others, the user may
select the appropriate agency for the
contact
Settings
The “Settings” tool allows the Beacon
user to change their password
User Account & Contact Control
• Lookup specifically by PLSS is completed by clicking “PLSS” on the header bar, then selecting through the following options:
State, County, Township, Range, Section
Alerts
• The top sidebar selection, Alerts, allows users to configure new alerts and edit existing alerts
• Locations can be added by address, coordinate pair, map click, or now PLSS
• Alert locations may be named. The optional location name should be put in closed quotation marks before the location address, coordinate pair, or PLSS coordinate
• If no location name is provided, the application will use the address, coordinate pair, or PLSS coordinate to name the location in the alert email
Alert Configuration – Location Selection
• Once locations are searched, an orange hexagon will be highlighted containing a color-coded pin at each location
• A green pin corresponds to a coordinate pair search, map click, or PLSS
• If an address is used to search, the colors correspond to the following geolocation results:
Blue: 75% confidence or greater in address result
Orange: 50-74% confidence in address result
Red: Below 50% confidence in address result
• Click “New Alert” to advance in the alert
configuration process
Alert Configuration – Location Selection
Once the user identifies the location(s) and
selects “New Alert”, the “New Alert” box appears
The colored boxes show the variable options to
the user. Users can select from cold, conditions
for frost, heat, conditions for hail, rain, freezing
rain, snow, wind gusts and sustained winds
Select the peril you are interested in and click
“Next” to advance
Alert Configuration – Perils
• The top line allows the user to name their alert, defaulting to “New (Peril) Alert”, in this case – “New Hail Alert”
• Select the severity, size, or magnitude of the peril you want to be alerted about
• Recommended thresholds are given for various insured-types. Four crops are available: corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton
• The crop buttons will autofill the suggested threshold for each corresponding crop
• After variable configuration, the next page allows the user to select the forecast window and notification frequency
Alert Configuration – Thresholds
Alert Configuration – Length & Frequency
On this page, the user may select how far in advance, and
how often, to receive alert emails
The selected “Forecast Window” determines how many
days in advance you want to be notified of impending
weather conditions. Alerts may go out as far as 7 days, or
as short as the next 18 hours
The selected “Notification Frequency” determines how
frequently you want to be notified within the Forecast
Window. Alerts may be sent out as frequently as 6
hours, or as infrequently as daily.
Again, an email is only sent if the configured threshold is
triggered by a forecast
The next page allows the user to configure the contacts for
their new alert. All previously-saved contacts will appear
under “My Saved Contacts”
Users can double-click a saved contact to add that contact to
the alert, or select the name(s) and click “Add Selected”. This
contact will now fall under “Recipients”
Alternatively, users can double-click a contact under
“Recipients” to take it off the particular alert, or select and
click “Remove Selected”. That contact will then fall back under
“My Saved Contacts”
Below these boxes is a link to the address book under “Open
Contacts”, allowing the user to add or edit Saved Contacts.
The address book is also available on the left sidebar of
Beacon under Contacts
Once contacts are added, “Next” will take the user to the
alert email content
Alert Configuration – Contacts
This email configuration page customizes the message that will be
sent
Users may configure the subject line of the email. If none is
chosen, the default is “Weather Analytics Beacon Alert”
The email begins with your company’s customized banner, followed
by an introductory message, part of which may be customized for
an individual alert
Below the forecast listing, the user may also add a customized
closing message as well
At the very bottom, the email will give the option for the contact to
unsubscribe from the alert
Once your email is configured, the “Create Alert” button at the
bottom will successfully create your new alert
Alert Configuration – Email Message
All configured alerts under a user’s
account are retrospectively available for
editing and viewing. Toggling from
“Create” to “Edit” at the bottom of the
application allows configured alerts to
either be edited or deleted
Alert Editing
Time Zone 00 UTC Alert 06 UTC Alert 12 UTC Alert 18 UTC Alert
Eastern Daylight 8:00 PM 2:00 AM 8:00 AM 2:00 PM
Central Daylight 7:00 PM 1:00 AM 7:00 AM 1:00 PM
Mountain Daylight 6:00 PM 12:00 AM 6:00 AM 12:00 PM
Pacific Daylight 5:00 PM 11:00 PM 5:00 AM 11:00 AM
Eastern Standard 7:00 PM 1:00 AM 7:00 AM 1:00 PM
Central Standard 6:00 PM 12:00 AM 6:00 AM 12:00 PM
Mountain Standard 5:00 PM 11:00 PM 5:00 AM 11:00 AM
Pacific Standard 4:00 PM 10:00 PM 4:00 AM 10:00 AM
• Alert emails are sent at a maximum frequency of 6 hours, corresponding to the frequency of forecast updates
• Weather forecasts run on Universal Time (UTC) with alerts sent out at UTC times represented in the table below
• The table maps each alert sendoff time to the four time zones of the continental United States
Alert Emails – Timing
Alert Management & Tracking
Alert Activity
• The Management tab allows users to view alert activity for all their configured alerts
• By setting a Start and End Date at the top, users may view triggered alerts over their requested timeframe
• Management lists the Alert Name, Peril, number of Triggers, and time of First Trigger for any alerts triggered within the timeframe
• A graph of alert emails sent per Peril is also provided at the bottom
• This table of alert activity can be downloaded as a spreadsheet and filtered using the Search bar
Alert Management & Tracking
Alert Activity
• A user may click on any alert in the Management table to view further details about the alert
• At the top, the alert Trigger, Forecast Window, Frequency, Locations and current alert Contacts are provided
• Below, a trigger-by-trigger listing of every trigger within the selected time frame is provided
• The time of the trigger is given, along with the alert locations that triggered for each individual instance
• This table is available for download into a spreadsheet and searchable via the Search bar
Beacon Hurricane
Hurricane Forecasts
• Beacon now offers hurricane track and wind
forecast visualizations, using new
proprietary tropical cyclone forecasting
techniques from Weather Analytics
• By selecting the Hurricane tab on the left,
users can view active tropical cyclone
activity around the globe
• Using the date selection bar at the top,
users may sort through recent forecasts, as
well as historical dates that Weather
Analytics has archived for significant storms
(in this case, October 4, 2016 is archived
for Hurricane Matthew)
• Once a date and time are selected, all the applicable storm forecasts for that instance in time are displayed. In this case, there were three active storms with available forecasts on October 4, 2016
• Along with the storm names, the latest observed central pressure and maximum sustained wind are shown. From here, users may click on a particular storm to take a deeper dive into a forecast
Beacon Hurricane - Tracks
Forecast Tracks
• Once a storm is selected, the user is immediately taken to Track Forecasts, with the option of viewing “Bias Corrected Tracks” or “Raw Tracks”
• Raw Tracks will visualize forecasts from various hurricane forecast models
• Bias Corrected Tracks will visualize these same sources, but with a proprietary algorithmic adjustment which takes into account forecast model weaknesses and to-date performance
• Users may scroll through forecast times, which will update the track on the map
• Forecasts are color coded using storm strength. The to-date path of the storm is given in black
Beacon Hurricane - Tracks
Forecast Tracks
• The user may select and filter individual model forecasts to visualize. The Weather Analytics forecast is the “WA 888” selection
• The visualization thus filters down from all forecast model members (seen on the previous slide), to the individual forecast selected
• When an individual forecast is selected, the user may also turn on the Wind Swath forecast and Precipitation Swath forecast (when available) for added visualization
Beacon Hurricane – Wind Probabilities
Forecast Winds
• The user may toggle to “Wind Speed Forecasts” for a particular storm
• Once selected, the user can view Tropical Storm Force wind probabilities for a forecast, or Hurricane Force wind probabilities for the forecast
• The user can use the time slider to view the progression of these wind speed probabilities over the entire length of the forecast
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