<description>The federal government has been tracking the weather for more than 150 years. Yet over the last few decades, the rise of the Internet and big tech have made weather forecasting a more crowded space. Today on the show: the value of an accurate forecast and the debate over who should control the data. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related stories:&lt;br&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;Hazard maps: The curse of knowledge (&lt;a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-indicator-from-planet-money/id1320118593?i=1000654845806"&gt;Apple&lt;/a&gt; / &lt;a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2kJrcuOgLQ5ZKZJpHx5J1H?si=JtITDePTRaKkvGq5Y_YfbQ"&gt;Spotify&lt;/a&gt;) &lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2023/07/11/1186458991/should-we-invest-more-in-weather-forecasting-it-may-save-your-life"&gt;Should we invest more in weather forecasting?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/12/16/1064590315/after-a-year-of-deadly-weather-cities-look-to-private-forecasters-to-save-lives"&gt;After a year of deadly weather, cities look to private forecasters to save lives&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="http://plus.npr.org/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;plus.npr.org&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Music by &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="https://dropelectric.bandcamp.com/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Drop Electric&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;. Find us: &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@planetmoney"&gt;&lt;em&gt;TikTok&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/planetmoney/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Instagram&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://www.facebook.com/planetmoney"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Facebook&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/newsletter/money"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Newsletter&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Learn more about sponsor message choices: &lt;a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices"&gt;podcastchoices.com/adchoices&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy"&gt;NPR Privacy Policy&lt;/a&gt;</description>

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

What's a weather forecast worth?

NOV 11, 20249 MIN
The Indicator from Planet Money

What's a weather forecast worth?

NOV 11, 20249 MIN

Description

The federal government has been tracking the weather for more than 150 years. Yet over the last few decades, the rise of the Internet and big tech have made weather forecasting a more crowded space. Today on the show: the value of an accurate forecast and the debate over who should control the data.

Related stories:
Hazard maps: The curse of knowledge (Apple / Spotify)
Should we invest more in weather forecasting?
After a year of deadly weather, cities look to private forecasters to save lives

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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