LOUISVILLE — Climavision, a Louisville-based leader in advanced weather modeling and forecasting technology, has acquired Intersphere, a fast-growing innovator specializing in subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) forecasting — predicting weather up to a year in advance.The Climavision headquarters is in Louisville with research and development operations in Raleigh, N.C.
Based in Fort Collins, Colo., Intersphere’s technology and expertise will build on Climavision’s own AI-powered weather prediction and decades of experience in numerical weather prediction. Intersphere uses proprietary AI models to issue weather and climate forecasts from weeks to months into the future. Its algorithms improve forecast accuracy, increase the amount of time customers have to act on a forecast, and provide more details about probabilistic information.
Target customers are in energy, insurance and agriculture, where they can use the information to make more strategic decisions about the impacts of weather on their business. By identifying likely weather developments months in advance, clients could improve resiliency of power grids, deploy resources to maximize efficiency, and even leverage energy markets more effectively.
Intersphere’s artificial intelligence process generates specific probability scenarios for virtually any aspect of the energy industry down to units as small as an individual wind farm. By combining that data with Climavision’s existing suite of high-resolution and global weather models, energy clients will have reliable, specific probabilities across a range of scenarios – with enough lead time to make both strategic and tactical decisions.
Extreme weather events — such as the winter storms that shut down the ERCOT grid and led to over $195 billion in property damage and more than 200 deaths in 2021 — sometimes arrive without enough warning to mitigate the effects. With Intersphere’s expertise on board, Climavision will be able to predict events with specificity up to 90 days out. That could provide power providers enough time to enhance the weatherization of assets, secure fuel supplies for backup systems, and make plans for managing demand — steps that could prevent a costly and potentially deadly grid failure.
“We’re thrilled to welcome the Intersphere team, whose expertise in AI weather and climate tech perfectly complements our mission,” said Chris Goode, CEO of Climavision. He foresees the combination revolutionizing weather forecasting, not only enhancing precision and accuracy but creating unprecedented insights into today’s ever-changing climate.
“Our technology extends Climavision’s forecasting capabilities from weeks to years into the future,” said Ben Toms, Ph.D., CEO of Intersphere. “The holy grail of weather and climate forecasting is understanding any possibility of what can happen as far in advance as possible. Partnering with Climavision gets us much closer to reaching that goal.”
Benefits of Climavision-Intersphere Integration:
- AI-Driven Forecasting Across Time Scales: Climavision’s proprietary datasets and experience with physics-based forecasting seamlessly integrate with Intersphere’s S2S technology and AI capabilities, increasing accuracy and extending forecast horizons for critical weather events.
- Extended Lead Times for Proactive Planning: S2S forecasting enables businesses to make informed decisions weeks to months to even years in advance, offering ample time for adapting strategies and optimizing resources.
- Communication of Uncertainty: As organizations continue to seek to quantify risk and a range of outcomes, Intersphere’s suite of ensemble forecasts offer probabilistic information to maximize confidence.
Climavision brings together a proprietary, high resolution supplemental weather radar network and advanced weather prediction modeling, including cutting-edge AI forecasting technology, and decades of expertise, to close significant weather observation gaps and drastically improve forecast speed and accuracy.
Climavision’s approach is poised to help reduce the economic risks of volatile weather on companies, governments and communities. It is backed by The Rise Fund, the world’s largest global impact platform committed to achieving measurable, positive social and environmental outcomes alongside competitive financial returns. To learn more, visit www.Climavision.com.
