okie333 Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I've been thinking of getting a subscription to Accuweather Pro or StormVista Platinum. Which one is better and why? Could someone weigh the pros and cons of each one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hckyplayer8 Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I've been thinking of getting a subscription to Accuweather Pro or StormVista Platinum. Which one is better and why? Could someone weigh the pros and cons of each one? SV's products come out the fastest of any site that I've belong to. They also offer the nicest looking plots (6 hr precip,850 temp,2m temp FTW plus regional plots) laid out on a very easy format. The downfall with platinum, you can find 95% of the variables else where for free. Even the Euro precip plots. Accuwx's has tons of models with tons of variables plus ECM Skew T's. The only problem you run into is their products tend to update absurdly slow. I'm talking 45+ min lag on Euro products. Ouch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxjoe Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 What's the price for StormVista? I can never find the price on their website, but I know a friend (only one) that has a subscription and I believe it was pretty high. (I've found on an AmWx thread that it's $200, but you can get just the Euro for $30?...not sure if this is per year or per month?) AccuWx Pro is $250/year for "personal" use. They charge $700/year for "professional" use which they define as "make financial gains," which they say includes educational uses. Many of my friends have AccuWx pro (though quite a few because they work or have interned there) but I don't. I think AccuWx is the most comprehensive weather pay site because it's not just models but also plenty of tools to keep track of current weather. They also have text output from models where it gives you the output of model grids for one point on the grid (or interpolated- not sure how they do it), which some forecasters (including myself) find useful. (This text output is the raw model output, not to be confused with MOS, which is a station-based statistical post-processing technique.) Other pay sites I know of: WeatherTAP: I subscribed back in High School because I thought the radar and satellite maps were great. They still are, and they've since added some enthusiast-level model maps, but I decided $84/year is a high price to pay for some pretty maps I can find elsewhere for free. Wright-Weather: I know that the mets at TWC use this extensively. I can't find a price, and I don't think this site is meant for non-commercial customers. (One cool thing they offer in addition to tons of maps: Level II radar data included with your subscription.) MDA Weather/EarthSat: EarthSat offers a number of model products; they don't just provide the pretty pictures but also offer analysis and unique ways to have products delivered. No personal experience, but I have a feeling the price might get high depending on needs. What else is there? For me, the model graphics AND the animation/viewer matter a lot. If I can't easily get to the data I want to see, then what am I paying for? It should also be noted: The data and tools to make these sites are mostly free. The only thing most of these companies need to pay for (outside of typical web hosting costs) is Euro data. Most sites use GrADS or Gempak to generate maps, which are both free software. This is why the user interface is important to me. I have yet to find a site that satisfies my needs, though. Maybe I'm just too picky? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
okie333 Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 It should also be noted: The data and tools to make these sites are mostly free. The only thing most of these companies need to pay for (outside of typical web hosting costs) is Euro data. Most sites use GrADS or Gempak to generate maps, which are both free software. This is why the user interface is important to me. I have yet to find a site that satisfies my needs, though. Maybe I'm just too picky? Which, I might add, is very expensive... a single parameter at 12-hr intervals for just the CONUS, using 0.5-degree data (not high-quality), costs about $1,200 per year. That very easily adds up to their max of $250,000/yr. http://www.ecmwf.int/products/catalogue/costing_examples.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxjoe Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Which, I might add, is very expensive... a single parameter at 12-hr intervals for just the CONUS, using 0.5-degree data (not high-quality), costs about $1,200 per year. That very easily adds up to their max of $250,000/yr. http://www.ecmwf.int...g_examples.html Oh yeah, it's outragously expensive. I don't really think many customers pay the quarter-of-a-million dollar maximum yearly fee- maybe a large multi-national or a government's weather service- but they offer discounts for small service providers as well as other discounts. I think they would be more than willing to negotiate fees based on how the data is used. Just a guess, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
okie333 Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Oh yeah, it's outragously expensive. I don't really think many customers pay the quarter-of-a-million dollar maximum yearly fee- maybe a large multi-national or a government's weather service- but they offer discounts for small service providers as well as other discounts. I think they would be more than willing to negotiate fees based on how the data is used. Just a guess, of course. Someone I know (InstantWeatherMaps) looked it up to see about getting the full Euro to add to the coming Platinum version of his site... he thought it would cost about $10,000/yr... he decided against it very quickly after seeing the real prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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