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