What's a weather-sensitive business and what are its consequences?

Here are a few examples of weather-sensitive businesses and their consequences:

- Agriculture: Farmers are heavily impacted by weather conditions as their operations depend on factors like temperature, precipitation, and humidity. Prolonged droughts, floods, frost, or storms can lead to crop losses and financial difficulties.

- Construction: Construction projects can be delayed or halted due to weather conditions such as heavy rain, snow, or extreme temperatures. This can result in project delays, additional costs, and logistical challenges.

- Smart Buildings: Weather forecasts play a crucial role in optimizing smart building operations and enhancing occupant experiences. By integrating relevant weather data, intelligent building systems can anticipate external conditions like temperature, humidity, precipitation, and sunlight. This proactive anticipation enables the regulation of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems based on projected needs, minimizing energy consumption while maintaining indoor comfort. Furthermore, weather forecasts facilitate better planning of energy resources such as lighting and automated shades, in sync with upcoming atmospheric conditions. By combining weather forecasts with other building data and processing them using smart algorithms, smart buildings can create more energy-efficient, pleasant, and efficient environments, contributing to carbon footprint reduction.

- Transport: Weather forecasts play a critical role in transportation management, be it for passengers or goods. By providing insights into upcoming weather conditions, these forecasts enable operators to plan and adjust their activities accordingly. For passenger transportation, forecasts help anticipate potential delays, improve safety, and provide real-time information to travelers. In the case of cargo transportation, weather forecasts influence logistic decisions, aiding in loss prevention, optimizing routes, and adjusting inventory based on expected demand. Overall, meteorological data enhances efficiency, resilience, and stakeholder satisfaction in the transportation sector.

- Renewable Energy Sector: Renewable energy sources face a significant challenge, the intermittent production caused by weather conditions. In the case of solar energy, the impact of a cloudy spell over a solar power plant can be very significant and can lead to an 80% drop in production within minutes. Similar challenges apply to wind turbines, where production variability is directly linked to wind patterns. Therefore, weather forecasts are essential for reliably integrating solar and wind energy into the power grid, providing valuable data to balance real-time supply and demand. They form a foundational pillar for effectively harnessing solar and wind potentials, contributing to efficient and stable renewable energy production.