Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Snowpocalypse Not?

Better safe than sorry
I'd rather over-prepare than under-prepare
It was just a forecast...

All true. On the other hand, as weather website 40 North, 70 West points out, hyping a storm is good for business:  

Weather Forecasting is Big Business
The need for extremely localized weather forecasts is a growing demand. Precision weather forecasting is crucial to businesses in weather-sensitive industries such as transportation, agriculture and energy. Talented and accurate meteorologists and private meteorological firms generate sustainable revenue and in some cases big profits by providing companies in weather-sensitive industries with consulting services. However, the vast majority of meteorologists (and non meteorologists to some extent) depend on online traffic in order to generate revenue through their websites or video channels (YouTube) and that’s when things get interesting.


Fair Weather is Bad for Business
What’s your favorite sports team/player? How often do you go crazy over them during the off season? Think of snowstorms as that team/player and fair weather as the off season. 40North 70West (this website) see mind-blowing spikes in traffic (usually between 800% & 1000% increase) when there’s the potential for a significant Winter Storm. Owners or webmasters of weather based websites will tell you this is no exaggeration. This increase in traffic always translates to an increase in ad revenue for this site and I can safely bet that the results are the same for others. It’s no wonder why some weather channels and blogs start selling the possibility of monster storms 5, 7, and in some cases 10+ days in advance. Some are willing to sacrifice their integrity for revenue generated by the hype centered around a low pressure system ridding up the Eastern Seaboard in a cameo appearance.

Read more here

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