Persistent heavy downpours resulted in major life-threatening flash flooding across South Florida, including the Miami area, on Nov. 14-16, 2023. The event led to business disruptions, road closures, downed trees, power outages, and school cancellations. AccuWeather meteorologists provided the most accurate forecast and the best description of the impacts of the significant flash flooding. AccuWeather For Business customers using AccuWeather’s SkyGuard® Notifications made sure businesses were the best prepared, protecting property, maintaining operations, and saving lives.
ACCUWEATHER’S SUPERIOR ACCURACY™ SAVES LIVES
AccuWeather's accurate forecasts, backed by Superior Accuracy, and most advance warnings were crucial in preparing and alerting the public and businesses about the major flash flooding in South Florida, ultimately saving lives and minimizing the impact.
MOST ADVANCE NOTICE
AccuWeather issued a SkyGuard® Flash Flood Warning that provided 18 minutes of life-saving advance notice for imminent flash flooding near Pompano Beach, Florida, benefiting AccuWeather For Business SkyGuard customers.
Other weather sources, including the National Weather Service, did not issue a warning until 69 minutes AFTER AccuWeather and 51 minutes AFTER reports of flooding came in from this area, including cars stranded on Florida State Road A1A. This superior warning benefited AccuWeather For Business SkyGuard® customers in the area, including a major global retailer.
MOST ACCURATE FORECASTS
On Tuesday, more than 24 hours BEFORE the heaviest rain fell, AccuWeather was the FIRST to predict an area of 8-12” rainfall totals across South Florida, matching very well with the actual rainfall.
AccuWeather issued a Storm Potential Notice forecasting persistent downpours producing 8-12” of rain, leading to widespread flash flooding across South Florida. Also, the EXCLUSIVE AccuWeather AssetReport™ gave businesses and government customers the information to identify specific assets at risk quickly and critical location-specific details such as expected rainfall at each asset. AccuWeather's AssetReport provides detailed insights to help businesses understand and prepare for weather impacts at their various locations. AccuWeather meteorologists forecasted an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 16 inches, the HIGHEST AND MOST ACCURATE forecast for peak rainfall from any source.
BEST DESCRIPTION OF IMPACTS
AccuWeather expert meteorologists accurately provided the best description of the dangerous impacts produced by the heavy rain within the AccuWeather forecast, including:
- “Major flooding is likely, and some roads will be impassable”
- “Life-threatening flooding is likely in some areas”
- Once the heavy rain was over, pockets of flooding persisted: “Although the worst rain is over, ongoing flooding can continue”
AccuWeather was the first to predict “street flooding and more serious flash flooding in places” and convey the dangers of extreme rainfall rates in urban areas like Miami.
ACCUWEATHER’S SUPERIOR ACCURACY COMPARED TO OTHER WEATHER SOURCES
Other weather sources, such as IBM and the National Weather Service (NWS), provided less accurate predictions, with IBM predicting only “locally heavy rainfall possible” and the NWS forecasting a lower precipitation probability than AccuWeather. Google inaccurately predicted the amount of rain Miami would receive even as late as Wednesday morning, hours before the heavy rain began.
ACCUWEATHER’S SKYGUARD NOTIFICATIONS
AccuWeather's SkyGuard Notifications deliver timely and actionable insights to businesses, offering advance warnings for severe weather events. These notifications provide crucial advance notice of imminent flash flooding, allowing businesses to activate emergency plans, ensure the safety of employees and assets, and make informed decisions to protect their operations.
AccuWeather's SkyGuard notifications significantly helped businesses and industries prepare during the flash-flooding event in South Florida:
- Transportation and Logistics: Accurate flash flood forecasts from AccuWeather allowed transportation and logistics companies to reroute shipments, adjust schedules, and ensure the safety of drivers and cargo. For example, a shipping company could have used the advance notice to reroute trucks away from flood-prone areas, minimizing disruptions and ensuring timely delivery.
- Retail and Hospitality: Retailers and hospitality businesses used the advance warnings to adjust staffing levels, secure outdoor inventory, and prepare for potential disruptions in customer traffic.
- Construction and Infrastructure: Construction companies and infrastructure operators used the advance warnings to secure construction sites, protect equipment, and ensure the safety of workers.
- Emergency Management Services: AccuWeather's accurate forecasts and warnings allowed emergency management services to make informed decisions and allocate resources effectively.
These examples demonstrate how AccuWeather's SkyGuard Notifications provided crucial support to various industries, enabling them to proactively prepare and respond effectively during the flash-flooding event in South Florida.
Want to learn more about how SkyGuard Notifications by AccuWeather can help your business be the best prepared for severe weather? Talk to an expert and demo SkyGuard today.
THE ACCUWEATHER ADVANTAGE
The benefits of AccuWeather go beyond protecting the lives of employees and customers. Businesses will also reduce your operational costs through better planning and 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.
AccuWeather’s track record of Superior Accuracy™ in weather forecasting and warnings has saved our clients tens of billions of dollars, saved the lives of employees and customers and minimized reputational harm. Overall, for more than 60 years, AccuWeather has saved over 10,000 lives and prevented injuries to over 100,000 people, all beyond what has been done by the National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center and other weather sources.
