Weathernews launches a 24-month long-term weather forecasting service for businesses. Note: Japanese text in the original image from press release has been translated into English by our editorial team.
Weathernews Inc.
Weathernews Inc. has obtained a new license in Japan to issue long-range weather forecasts of up to 24 months and has started offering monthly temperature predictions through its corporate weather information service, Weathernews for business, the company said on August 18.
The Chiba-based company said the new service is designed to support medium- to long-term business planning and risk management in sectors including manufacturing, retail, agriculture and electric power. Users can ask the service’s AI agent questions such as forecasts for Tokyo temperatures next summer in a chat format, and can also request output in chart form or download data as CSV files.
The forecasts cover monthly temperatures at about 790 locations across Japan through the PC web version of Weathernews for business. For forecasts from seven months onward, the service also displays confidence levels in three grades – high, medium and low – as a guide to how likely temperature trends are to be above or below normal.
Weathernews uses a machine-learning-based approach for the 24-month forecast service rather than relying mainly on physical simulation methods commonly used in weather prediction. The model learns statistical relationships between sea surface temperatures in distant tropical regions and temperatures across Japan.
In verification for monthly average temperatures on Japan’s Pacific side of eastern Japan, the error for a forecast based on normal-year values was 1.53 degrees Celsius, compared with 1.36 degrees at six months ahead, 1.15 degrees at one year ahead and 1.17 degrees at two years ahead, according to the release.
Weathernews has offered Weathernews for business since September 2022 as an expansion of its consumer weather app for corporate users. The service is available through a smartphone app and a PC-focused website and provides customizable weather information including location-specific forecasts, rain cloud radar, lightning, power outage risk, typhoon track forecasts, river water levels, inundation forecasts and evacuation information.
In Japan, private companies can provide weather forecasts only with authorization under the Meteorological Service Act, a licensing framework overseen by the Japan Meteorological Agency.