Weather updates are a key part of news content. It allows your visitors to stay longer on your website and to find out more information about the current conditions in their own area. Weather reports can be easily integrated into your news article with Foreca’s widget. It will automatically guide your visitors to their local weather report, giving them the latest updates in their language.
The accuracy of long-range forecasts has improved considerably over the last several decades, with forecasts 3 to 5 days out now being reasonably reliable in most regions of the world. However, the quality gap remains very large in low-income countries where fewer land-based instruments and radiosondes collect meteorological data, and reporting is more irregular.
Weather warnings allow governments to take steps to mitigate the impact of severe weather events. For example, if forecasts indicate that a storm surge is likely to occur in an urban area, authorities can move residents to safer areas. Early forecasts of cyclones, heavy rain or heat waves allow communities to stock up on food and water, and avoid the loss of life or property.
In addition, accurate forecasts for marine travel are important for safety. Wind direction and speed, wave period and height, tides, and precipitation are all important factors affecting the safety of sea transport. This information is often provided to vessel pilots via specialized radio communication codes such as RTTY, Navtex and Navfax.
Although we tend to take the availability of good weather forecasts for granted in high-income countries, this information is a valuable commodity in most of the developing world as well. Research suggests that increased access to meteorological information would lead to economic benefits ranging from greater agricultural productivity to reduced losses due to flooding and droughts.