How about a smartphone application that claims to predict the weather a year in advance? How can anyone do that?
Questions, questions. Bill Kirk, chief executive of the company that just released the 99-cent WT360 Pro for iPhone, says his app uses statistics, math and climate-cycle data to predict precipitation and temperatures up to 12 months ahead with about 80 percent accuracy. As to whom it could help, Kirk has his own questions: “Who’s not planning a wedding, a vacation, a party, a golf trip anywhere in the world? Who wants to book a $3,000-a-week shore house not knowing that will be the wettest week of the summer?”
Kirk’s company, Weather Trends International Inc. in Bethlehem, Pa., has been predicting the weather far in advance for more than nine years, for clients who need a long look at which way the wind is blowing, including Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola.
The Weather Channel app doesn’t do forecasts a year ahead, but it’s free and available on Android as well as iPhone. It also has easy-to-use features that include social media. A “share” button gives choices to post the weather report to Facebook or e-mail the forecast.
Another 99-cent app for iPhone, Fahrenheit, displays the temperature on the app’s home-screen icon.
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
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