Snow Warning Service

[snowjoker]

Has anoyone used this service from Accuweather.com? I seen it while browsing their site and was wondering if it is accurate? I am sure there is a fee for this service but may be worth the money.

[Mick]

I'm interested in hearing comments & recommendations regarding ACCU Weather, too. Got thier mailing yesterday and saved it to look up this morning. Ironic finding this post this morning, too. Cost for "Professional Service" level is shown as $14.95 a month or $149.50/yr.

[cja1987]

I think its one of the sources my town uses, i can find that out, if indeed they do use it I will ask for their input.

[snowjoker]

I got an email back from Accuweather today with a price for this Snow Warning Service $2800 for my area :eek: :eek: What are they thinking??? almost 3 thousand bucks for 3 months of snow forecasting:confused: I am in total disbelief on this.

[Arc Burn]

I too recieved a quote today for my area,$2000,i was thinking a couple hundred bucks and i'd go for it,guess i thought wrong:scramble

[BWhite]

Wow they really value their service . Will they refund money when they are wrong ?

[wyldman]

Those prices are not that outrageous.It depends on what you get.

We have a service with Environment Canada,where we get detailed faxes and emails every 3 hours.These show current and impending storms,as well as expected precip levels by the hour.Really great info for tracking the storms,and determining when to start plowing,and salting.We can also speak one on one with a meteorologist as needed.These records are incredibly detailed and precise,and can be used in case of a lawsuit to back you up.They are even better than your own records,as they are done by an independant source,so they cannot be fudged.

For larger scale operations,it's well worth it.Smaller operations can get together,and can share the costs,and distribute the information between them.

[thesnoman]

Given the wealth of free information and data feeds availble out there it is kinda foolish to pay for this service these days. 3 to 5 years ago it might have made sense but things have changed today you can basically get free near real time data (delayed only but a few minutes at most) for free so why pay for it? With a good broad band connection you can get 99% of what you need for free and fast too. (for US data anyway because NOAA/NWS is funded by tax payers so they do not need to turn a profit on data) There are also some cheap good programs out there that will let to read these data streams directly and customize the output to your own needs.

[wyldman]

While the free information out there is good,there is nothing like the paid service.They set it all up,and I end up with detailed faxes and email alerts every 3 hours.This information is very locale specific,and covers a very small area (our plowing area).They give precise snowfall and storm predictions for every hour during the event.It kinda spells out what is supposed to happen,so we can plan accordingly.No sense running around plowing and salting everything right away if you know there is more coming in the next hour or so.Most radar feeds aren't specific enough to predict that stuff.

The other thing is time.I don't have all day to sit and analyse radar to try and figure it all out.We get the fax,and it's all there.It gives us detailed records too,so we don't have to document everything.All this saves time,and these days time is money.It saves wasted labor,materials,and fuel too,as we know exactly when to head out,and what our strategy is for the storm in general.

It's also nice being able to make a free phone call directly to a meteorologist to get real time info.That's priceless if your unsure as to what is happening,and your not near a PC to get updates.Without the service you pay $3.00 a minute or more.

[thesnoman]

Only because you do not know were to find the data for free and use it properly not because it is not out there. Where do you think that fee services get a lot of there data from that they "sell" to you????? Like I said times have changed and money is better spent elsewhere. I can with a few mouse click track and project the path of any storm or cell anywhere is US and even have alerts sent to me in text messaging if I choose to without a fee service. The availblity of good free weather data has increase a lot in last few years and a good bit more this year alone and it will only get better. The only reason to maybe use a fee service is if you do not have broadband access to get and process all the data quickly. For a few bucks a month I can even get realtime data but I can "live" with a few minute delay for free. Right now I am tracking some "cells" moving into my area from the north west at 22.5 mph on a bearing of 125 degrees and due here in about 38 minutes (if it holds together)

[wyldman]

Here we go again :rolleyes:

Do not tell me what I have and don't have.IF you have an opinion on this thread,just state it and move on,no need to bicker about it,and tell people what they do and don't have.

I DO have many high speed feeds,both at home and at the office.The data IS available.Like I said,I don't have time to sit in front of the PC and "guess" what a storm might do.There is also quite a lag in the so called "real time" data available for free.It is often 30 mins or more behind,even though the image time stamp says otherwise.

Not to mention I have to (or have someone do it) sit down and write all this stuff down for our records,then input it,and format it.I don't have time,and it would cost me more to pay someone to do it.

I do watch it (the free stuff) while preparing for a storm,but still use the paid service.The paid service is the hands down winner.It's not for everyone,but if you run a good sized plow operation,it's a great tool to have in your toolbox.I find it's a very valuable,cost effective service to be informed,and up to date.

So how do you sit in front of your PC looking at all this and still get out and plow snow ?

[John DiMartino]

I agree it sounds expensive for a smaller operation,but for a bigger company its money well spent ,and will save them many times over what it cost.

[Waterchikn]

I agree Chris, if you have a plow operation that isn't just one truck, but a fleet and numerous accounts, like yours, the pay service would be worth it just for record keeping alone, plus the fact that you get all the other features, well worth it in my eyes. I use the free services, and they are OK at best, I have text to my phone when events are in the likely hood of my area, but nothing like your service. I am only 1 guy with one plow that has only a few accounts and subs the rest of the time, so the people I sub for have services, and they surprise me with the info they have available to them at the drop of a hat.

[thesnoman]

Originally posted by Waterchikn
I agree Chris, if you have a plow operation that isn't just one truck, but a fleet and numerous accounts, like yours, the pay service would be worth it just for record keeping alone, plus the fact that you get all the other features, well worth it in my eyes. I use the free services, and they are OK at best, I have text to my phone when events are in the likely hood of my area, but nothing like your service. I am only 1 guy with one plow that has only a few accounts and subs the rest of the time, so the people I sub for have services, and they surprise me with the info they have available to them at the drop of a hat.

Maybe but if you are big and you have a dispather or such, they can be "trained" to use data too and relay info on and spend money of equipment (or pleasure) instead

[Waterchikn]

Right, but either way you are paying for the service, either directly or indirectly. What works best, works best.

[snowjoker]

I am curious as to the accuracy on my area being a Lake Effect area.:rolleyes:

[thesnoman]

Originally posted by Waterchikn
Right, but either way you are paying for the service, either directly or indirectly. What works best, works best.

Yes but if you live in states you can get raw data for free (you have already paid for it with taxes) and at most spend under a 100 bucks one time for a few custom programs to process and display data. With radar data I can control the size and interval of the loop and the speed it play back at anytime and you can watch storms develope or watch them die. The only magi here is processing the data which software can do for you nicely now and yeild results that even a layman can use effectively.

[Pelican]

OK thesnoman, in reading this thread at your request, I see you've made your point numerous times. Our membership can consider it, choose to accept it or not, that's the way this Board works.

There is no need for you to further bludgeon anyone with your opinion.

[BRL]

The other proper approach would be to provide the links to this free information & to the software to process it, for those who might have the time for that (or an employee that they can train that has the time) & want to get their weather data in that way. I could post that you don't know where to get a free brand new plow truck, but I do. In that case it really doesn't matter to anyone if I don't share where to get it. Get it?

[Waterchikn]

Your right, BRL, I guess posting where the free information would be the proper response. I will post this one, which Iam sure everyone allready knows about.

www.nws.noaa.gov

It is the National Weather Service. It has live radar images (almost live) and is pretty accurate. But again, nothing like a pay service, and I wouldn't count on it in court if you had to use it for your records. If you had a meterologists that you could call and talk too, now that would be very valuable.

Getting back to the thread topic, what sources does everyone use?

[Mick]

Does anybody know where to get historical data? Everyone wants to make predictions (as if they could be anywhere near accurate:rolleyes: ). There used to be site where you could get monthly precipitation and monthly/annual snowfall for any given area going back several years. I haven't been able to find it for several years now.

[SnoJob67]

Mick-

This is not so much historical data as it is snowfall averages. Even if it is not precisely what you are looking for, I thought it would be helpful for the perennial question, "How much snow does my market get in an "average" season." Try www.weatherbase.com

SnoJob

[Mick]

That's it. Thanks very much, SnoJob. I knew what the average was for this area, but could just never find the site to prove it again. And I agree, this is asked all the time in one way or another.

[orenlasko]

wyldman, can you post contact info for this enviro canada service. it sound like just what i need.

thanks.

oren.

[BRL]

For Mick & others from Maine:

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/car/climate.htm

[wyldman]

Originally posted by orenlasko
wyldman, can you post contact info for this enviro canada service. it sound like just what i need.

thanks.

oren.

If you want free stuff,Environment Canada has a email forcast service,as well as weather alerts.You can sign up here (http://www.weatheroffice.pyr.ec.gc.ca/e-products/)

As far as the business services,they have dropped them this year,and are farming them out to ouside private sector companies.You can see the list here (http://www.cmos.ca/Privatesector/directory.html)

I'd recommend World Weather Watch,Weather Network commercial services,or Scotia weather.All the contact info is on the directory above.

If you want to speak to someone at Environment Canada about it in more detail,call Chris Marshall at (416) 239-4578.He is the man when it comes to weather.BTW,I just got off the phone with him,and we are getting snow tommorow,so I hope your ready. ;)

[Mick]

Thanks, BRL. I keep getting great sites like this in my "weather folder" favorites, I'm going to become the local resident source of weather data.

[4evergreenlawns]

I am using ACCUweather PREMIUM it cost me $40.00 PER YEAR. I get to hit there site and get things like LIVE radar with animations, ACCUPOP with will give you up to 96 hours of percip probability in the form or RAIN, SNOW, ICE. It gives a 15 day forecast. Along with many other things like snowfall reports by zip code up to date within 24hrs out to 10 years.

Next level up is ACCUwheather Professional, for $149.00 PER YEAR. Give more radar models and smoe otehr stuff I just did not see as any benifit.

As for the Snow Warning service the only ISSUE I really have with the rate is you can ONLY track weather in the regions they have set up. For example: when I looked into it for the cost of in the $2000.00 range I would only be getting the service of about 1/3 of the area I service. To get the addtional 2/3 covered I would have to add an addtional account for the other area based on how the Chicago region is set up. This is the ONLY reason why I decided not to go with the Snow Warning Service.

I own three trucks now and have pulled back on the coverage area but increased accounts. As Chris said, TIME IS MONEY. If I could get the updates FREE and TIMELY I would do it too. I have heard about getting updates on the CELL. I tried it, GUESS WHAT IT SUCKS. I get better updates from the AM radio and if you have not noticed that is already in the truck too but does not mean it is better than the paid service Chris is talking about.

The Snow Service can save a company huge dollars and LIABILITY by giving the information on the event like what, when, how much and how long. Aslo being able to talk directly to the Metorologist (sp) is priceless. If I was in a market where there was more than 30"- 40" of SNOW in a season I would have paid the money.

MR. SNOWMAN, BTW where are all the FREE sites that this DATA is so readily available at?????? Lest not forget about the software you mentioned that can be managed by even the most layperson. I know how to use my P/C (which was not FREE) just share the LINKS and the software. That is what this on line meeting place is really for. Give it a try you might like the responses more than what you have been getting for just telling us all how STUPID WE ARE for paying for something that is FREE.

Futhermore, in your profile is that 2000 Chevy trucks, and 79 Jeeps, or ONE (1) 2000 TRUCK and ONE (1) 1979 Jeep??? Just want to have an understanding where your vast experience is really coming from, with all due respect (should it be warranted).