On the evening of September 24, 2023, the heavily populated Interstate-35 Corridor in and around Round Rock, TX, was hit by severe thunderstorms, which brought torrential rain, damaging winds, and large, destructive hail. This storm resulted in extensive damage to homes, cars, and businesses, creating an insurance nightmare for the affected areas. Some areas experienced 2-inch hail, with the most significant hail reportedly 3.5 inches in diameter, larger than baseballs and smaller than softballs. AccuWeather For Business clients received the most advance notice and forecasts backed by Superior Accuracy™, giving them enough time to make the best decisions to protect their people, property, and assets.
>>READ MORE: AccuWeather's SkyGuard a game-changer for children's hospital
Unmatched Advanced Notice
AccuWeather’s expert meteorologists exclusively provided the most advanced notice than any other source for this severe weather event. AccuWeather issued a large hail warning at 8:25 pm CT, 15 minutes of additional notice before the hailstorm was expected to hit Round Rock, TX. This crucial 15-minute lead time allowed businesses to take proactive measures to protect their property, employees, and customers.
The Value of Additional Time
Even a few extra minutes can make a significant difference in a weather emergency. AccuWeather exclusively provided 15 minutes of ADDITIONAL valuable time compared to the government's warnings and all other sources. This invaluable window of opportunity allowed businesses to move their vehicles and equipment into garages or find shelter, potentially preventing extensive damage and subsequent insurance claims.
Localized Start Times for Enhanced Preparedness
Unlike broad area warnings issued by the government and other sources, AccuWeather's storm warning meteorologists provided the most accurate and localized start times for the destructive hail across the area. AccuWeather delivered forecasts specific to each neighborhood, providing businesses with tailored information about the remaining time available to protect their people, property and reduce liability.
Empowering Businesses and Insurance Carriers
AccuWeather's storm warning system significantly impacted businesses and insurance carriers. Through AccuWeather's SkyGuard® Warnings service, AccuWeather provided valuable advance notice to their business customers, allowing them to take necessary precautions to mitigate potential damages. Additionally, one of the largest US insurance carriers enrolled their customers in AccuWeather's alerts, further reducing the risk of hail damage resulting in insurance claims. This proactive approach resulted in cost savings for both the insurance provider and their policyholders, especially considering the staggering $50 billion in insurance losses due to severe local storms in 2023 alone.
Be better prepared with AccuWeather For Business
AccuWeather For Business goes above and beyond by offering personalized one-on-one consultations to businesses before, during, and after severe weather events like this one. During the storm, AccuWeather meteorologists continuously offered support and guidance to inform businesses of changing weather conditions and help them make real-time decisions to protect their operations and personnel.
Is your business ready for the next big storm? Let AccuWeather For Business keep you better prepared. AccuWeather's SkyGuard® Warnings, backed by Superior Accuracy™, can deliver site-specific alerts and warnings before severe weather hits, giving you much-needed time to put your emergency plans into place. Want to learn more? Demo SkyGuard today.
The AccuWeather Advantage
The benefits of AccuWeather go beyond protecting the lives of your employees and customers. They will also reduce your operational costs through better planning, better mitigation efforts and allow you to make better weather-impacted decisions. AccuWeather forecasts will help you make the right decisions sooner and faster, keeping your people safer, saving you money overall, eliminating angst and stress, reducing your risk and liability, reducing losses and better protecting your reputation.
Serving more than half of the Fortune 500 companies and thousands of businesses globally, AccuWeather is recognized as the most accurate source of weather forecasts, advanced warnings and data in the world.
