We have found over the almost 30 years that we have
been verifying weather for our clients, that there
are some interesting assumptions that many of our
present and prospective clients have about past
weather records. See how well you do!
True or False:
The closest weather observation station to the
site of the loss is sufficient to verify what
the weather was within a reasonable degree of
meteorological certainty.
True or False:
With cooperative reporting station records,
when you read down the column that shows 24
hours amounts of rain or snow, the amount shown
is the total amount of rain or snow that fell
on the date shown in the date column.
True or False:
Hourly reporting sites are perfect for showing
how much snow or ice fell each hour at a particular
site of loss.
True or False:
If the closest weather station shows no rain
at the date and time of the loss, it’s a pretty
safe bet there wasn’t any.
True or False:
All weather reporting stations are held to the
same standard - each must be extremely diligent
about recording all of the weather information
that can be collected so that all of the "blanks"
are filled in for each weather record and that
there are no observation or time gaps.
Answers:
Well, if you marked
all of the above statements as false, you did
great! Read on, just in case you weren’t sure
why the statements were false.
If you really
want an answer that will hold up in court, you
must study all weather records in and around
the site of loss. Not all records are good for
verification of all types of losses. You have
to know which ones to order. Compu-Weather provides
you with all of the records needed for
a thorough analysis. As a result, we often hear
from clients thanking us for being on their
side!
Most cooperative
reporting stations report their "end of
the day" at 7 or 8 in the morning, so their
24 hour periods actually encompass two days.
How can you tell which day it rained or snowed?
Compu-Weather knows how.
Hourly reporting
sites are becoming less useful by the day -
the National Weather Service, in a continuing
effort to cut costs, is gradually automating
hourly reporting stations. Automated stations
are commonly called AWOS or ASOS stations, and
the majority of them don’t report snow or ice.
Again, if you
don’t get all available observations around
the site of the loss, how can you be confident
as to whether there was rain or snow? Increasingly,
we are finding cases where precipitation is
so localized, it doesn’t even show up at any
of the surrounding stations. Do you know how
to check to be sure? Compu-Weather does!
We wish
that all reporting stations were held to the
same standard. Quite often hourly reporting
stations have big reporting gaps because they
just don’t report for the full 24 hours. There
is also enormous variability in the information
provided by cooperative reports (stations where
volunteers are used to report the weather).
Some of the volunteers enjoy getting every last
nuance of detail; others don’t even provide
high and low temperatures for the full month!
Compu-Weather has
been in the business of forensic meteorology for
quite some time now, and with experience comes
invaluable knowledge. When you look at the time
and money saved by having us provide a valid weather
conclusion, the cost to access this knowledge
and experience is relatively small. We thank you
for your continued business!
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