COI: date=November 2008

AccuWeather is an American media company that provides for profit weather forecasting services worldwide.

AccuWeather was founded in 1961 by Joel N. Myers, then a Penn State graduate student working on degrees in meteorology. His first customer was a gas company in Pennsylvania. While running the company, Myers also became a member of Penn State's meteorology faculty. The company adopted the name "AccuWeather" in 1971.

AccuWeather is headquartered in State College, Pennsylvania, with a sales office in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. In 2006, AccuWeather acquired WeatherData, Inc. of Wichita, Kansas. As WeatherData Services, Inc., an AccuWeather Company, the Wichita facility now houses AccuWeather's specialized severe weather forecasters.

Company profile

AccuWeather markets weather products and services, with 175,000 clients worldwide in media, business and government.[http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/752863/firm_expands_ways_to_get_weather/index.html Firm Expands Ways to Get Weather - Technology - redOrbit ] It also runs the free, advertising-supported website AccuWeather.com, an online weather provider. The company claims that the AccuWeather brand and weather are presented to over 110 million people every day. AccuWeather employs 404 persons, of whom 113 are meteorologists.

AccuWeather's forecasts and services are based on weather information derived from numerous sources, including weather observations and data gathered by the National Weather Service and meteorological organizations outside the United States, and from information provided by non-meteorological organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the armed forces.

AccuWeather operates a 24-hour commercially sponsored weather channel known as The Local AccuWeather Channel, which is similar to NBC Weather Plus. The Local AccuWeather Channel launched in 2006 and is currently on the air in 48 markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Houston.

The regular weather provider for Bloomberg Television and numerous local TV stations, AccuWeather also provides guest commentary on major TV networks. AccuWeather, through the Westwood One network, also provides weather for numerous radio stations and newspapers, including WINS (AM) in New York City, KFWB (AM) in Los Angeles and WBZ (AM) in Boston. During severe-weather episodes, AccuWeather experts have been called upon by television journalists such as Larry King , Geraldo Rivera , and Greta van Susteren for expert commentary. Many of its broadcast meteorologists, such as Joe Bastardi and Elliot Abrams, are known nationally.

AccuWeather produces local weather videos each day for use on their own web site, on the Local AccuWeather Channel, and on wired Internet and mobile web sites. The company is also active in the areas of convergence and digital signage. They have added a user-contributed video section to their photo gallery.