Millions Turn to WeatherBug® as a Trusted Source for Hurricane
News and Information
Consumers, Energy Traders, State and Local Government Agencies and the Media
Rely on WeatherBug to Help Protect Assets and Safeguard Lives
Germantown, Md. — For the critical days leading up to and
subsequent to Hurricane Gustav, Hanna and Ike's landfalls, millions of consumer
Web and mobile users relied on WeatherBug's team of meteorologists and the WeatherBug
Network for accurate forecasts, news, and live weather information. Additionally,
hundreds of energy traders, broadcast outlets and government agencies throughout
the country, including the National Weather Service (NWS), relied on WeatherBug
Professional's state-of-the-art technology to help protect assets and safeguard
lives.
"Through our professional and consumer services, we were able to provide critical
weather information for a series of severe weather events that were highly impactful,"
said Bob Marshall, CEO and founder of WeatherBug. "We are extremely proud to have
an experienced and dedicated team of meteorologists and staff to support the millions
of people who rely on WeatherBug as a trusted source for their weather news."
WeatherBug's Consumer Applications:
WeatherBug continuously updated its Hurricane Command Center with reports from the
National Hurricane Center and WeatherBug's team of meteorologists and posted severe
weather and tropical storm videos online and through its mobile applications. As
a result, millions of people turned to WeatherBug as a trusted source for hurricane
news and information.
According to comScore Media Metrix, the WeatherBug Web site and desktop application
showed the highest weekly usage statistics to date with more than 13.8 million unique
visitors for the week ending September 14. During the month of August, WeatherBug
saw 20.8 million unique users according to comScore.
On the mobile front, from August 29 through September 12, WeatherBug hosted more
than 16 million page views across on-deck and off-deck carriers, which is on pace
to be a new record. In recent months, WeatherBug has grown to nearly 40 million
monthly page views across mobile web products and nearly 7 million unique users.
WeatherBug is the exclusive weather provider of mobile web for Verizon Wireless
as well as for Verizon's VCAST video service, which saw significant use during these
events.
WeatherBug also delivered numerous custom mobile severe weather alerts to customers
affected by the storm through its WeatherBug Protect system, a location-based service
available exclusively through Sprint. WeatherBug Protect sends alerts from the WeatherBug
Network as well as all the standard severe weather alerts issued from the NWS such
as tornado and hurricane watches and warnings.
Additionally, WeatherBug's iPhone application was used by an average of more than
200 thousand people each day to track Hurricane Ike as it approached and made landfall
in Texas. To date, WeatherBug has had more than 1.4 million people download its
application for the iPhone 3G since the launch in mid-July.
WeatherBug's Professional Services:
Government officials, energy traders, golf course managers and professional sporting
organizations took full advantage of WeatherBug Professional's resources to stay
informed and to protect their communities.
Throughout the duration of each storm, WeatherBug delivered technical updates from
its meteorological team on the storm's path, intensity and expected impact to hundreds
of government officials, including state and local emergency managers in Texas,
Florida and Louisiana. WeatherBug's meteorological team was relied upon by energy
traders and major sports organizations as well.
WeatherBug Professional also provided its GIS web-based service, WeatherBug StreamerRT,
to more than 150 state and local emergency agencies. StreamerRT captures live radar
and satellite images, and provides an in-depth look at wind gusts, temperature and
more.
State departments of public safety used the meteorologist's technical updates to
follow the storm and make plans on how to protect its citizens. County governments
used data from StreamerRT in emergency operations centers to track the storm and
make decisions on whether or not to bring in extra personnel.
WeatherBug's Media Services:
WeatherBug's broadcast partners across the country also had instant access to live
information from the WeatherBug Network.
WeatherBug's media partners, such as KHOU in Houston, reported on live conditions
including wind speeds, temperature, pressure and rainfall, and showed live shots
from more than 1800 WeatherBug weather stations and 363 cameras in the path of the
storm.
WeatherBug's weather stations and cameras along the Gulf Coast are located on and
off-shore atop oil rigs, schools, public safety buildings, and popular tourist spots
such as Galveston's Moody Gardens.
"Not only were we first to provide location specific wind gust information for our
professional customers, we were also able to provide live footage to our broadcast
partners and consumers as the water levels quickly rose in Houston and Galveston,”
said Marshall. “It is always exciting and humbling to know the impact we can have
through our products, services and people, but the true effects really shine through
during a major severe weather event."
About WeatherBug
WeatherBug (http://www.weatherbug.com and
http://www.weatherbugprofessional.com)
is a trusted source of dynamic weather information enabling people worldwide to
make more informed weather-related decisions. Millions of consumers and professional
organizations, including the National Weather Service, rely on WeatherBug to make
mission critical decisions which safeguard lives, impact communities and improve
business operations. WeatherBug is a brand of AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc.
(http://www.aws.com)
For more information, please contact:
Mara Radis, Director of Corporate Communications
WeatherBug
(301) 250-4017 mradis@weatherbug.com
