Weather Company Continues to Be the World's Most Accurate Forecaster

IBM and its subsidiary The Weather Company 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, ForecastWatch named 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 and the next best overall provider has increased every year of the study.

"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.

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.

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. It delivers more than 25 billion forecasts every day to more than two billion devices. 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.