A Private Eye on the Weather Case

Wildly off weather forecasts may be a sick joke for us, but some people have more at stake. Luckily, now there’s something you can count on.

They say it’ll rain, but it turns out irritatingly sunny; they say it’ll be cloudy but it pours. For most of us, that’s just one more in the list of amusing weather anecdotes, but some companies stand to lose money due to inaccurate government forecasts. Enter private forecasting organisations.

Delhi-based Skymet and Weather Risk Management Services are modern-day weather shamans who know their subject and make money from it. So, despite warnings from the civic authorities of a repeat of the 2005 Mumbai floods this July, Skymet customers weren’t worried because they were told to expect unremarkable, moderate rainfall. Skymet was right.

The firm has over 20 clients in industries such as telecom, power, shipping and media. Since it’s paid per accurate forecast—within 1 degree Celsius for power companies—it’s in their best interest to get it right every time, unlike the Indian Meteorological Department. “They don’t have the same pressure we do… but the liabilities are higher. If they’re wrong, it costs lives, we just don’t get paid,” says CEO Jatin Singh.
He set up Skymet in 2003. He uses a combination of hi-tech hardware, forecast models manipulated to consider on-the-ground realities in 70 Indian cities, and former Air Force met department experts. The venture has grown to an almost Rs 2 crore enterprise on the backs of clients like a telecom operator which provides weather forecasts to its subscribers. “They get some 4,000 rural subscribers a day for that one service,” Singh says.

But he says it’s difficult to convince people. “People don’t understand why they need to pay for the weather,” he says. Incidentally, small-time consumers can get accurate information for free on Skymet’s new website indianweatherforecast.com.

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Manju Sara Rajan