Many weather hazards can cause tremendous amounts of damage, perhaps none as immediately as hail. A sprinkling of marble-sized hail might be a minor nuisance, but as the hail grows in size and volume the damage to buildings, cars and equipment can be devastating, to say nothing of physical injuries caused. The U.S. alone sees over 5,000 severe hailstorms each year.
To help businesses better monitor incoming hail storms and take steps to protect their assets, Tomorrow.io is excited to announce the release of our expanded Hail Index! Use this new premium forecast product on the map and timeline views, or access via the API, to monitor exactly when and where hail is expected across the United States and Canada.
The hail index previously was only available for Canada, where an insurance company has used Tomorrow.io to send automated alerts to policyholders about expected hail. This not only helped policyholders avoid damage to their cars, but also prevented millions of dollars in claims and increased customer satisfaction.
The insurance industry bears the brunt of damage from hailstorms, with annual insurance losses reaching as high as $14 billion in the United States. But other industries, particularly in the transportation sector, are also vulnerable to impact from hail:
- Fleet management operators should re-route or pull vehicles off the road to avoid costly damage from severe hailstorms.
- Aviation needs to consider adjusting flight schedules, diverting planes in the air, or moving parked aircraft to covered locations.
- Railroad companies can protect their assets and avoid costly derailments due to hailstones on tracks.
- Solar panels can be tilted in advance of expected hail to avoid damage and warranty claims.
And any industry with crew members working outside needs to protect employees from physical injury in addition to preventing damage to equipment. Using the Hail Index within the Tomorrow.io platform, users can easily monitor their key locations and assets and view incoming hailstorms on the map and timeline to know exactly when and where to expect impact.
Like with all our data layers, users can apply hail insights to any location and pair them with actionable automated alerts. Hail index coverage is available in the United States and Canada, with a resolution of 1-3 km and hourly forecast out to 48 hours, with support for point, polygon and polyline locations.
Watch a full walkthrough of Tomorrow.io’s Hail Index here:
