AccuWeather's alerts for the impending severe, damaging winds were provided in advance and in some cases, were the only alerts received by people in the Houston area. An AccuWeather user shared that these AccuWeather alerts were "the only reason my family was safe" and gave her "the time to prepare my family and my home".

By AccuWeather For Business, Staff

Published May 20, 2024 8:31 AM EDT | Updated Aug 30, 2024 11:27 AM EDT

Copied

A car crushed by falling bricks from a fallen building wall sits in a downtown parking lot after a severe thunderstorm passed through, Thursday, May 16, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

On May 16, 2024, historic, destructive thunderstorms with wind gusts over 75 mph and at least one tornado blasted through Houston, TX, and continued eastward along the Gulf Coast. These unfortunately fatal storms left a million businesses and customers without power, partially collapsed buildings, blew out numerous windows, and resulted in widespread tree damage and road closures. AccuWeather's alerts for the impending severe, damaging winds were provided in advance and in some cases, were the only alerts received by people in the Houston area. An AccuWeather user shared that these AccuWeather alerts were "the only reason my family was safe" and gave her "the time to prepare my family and my home".

AccuWeather’s Most Advance Notice

Five days earlier, AccuWeather was the first known source to forecast that thunderstorms could be "severe," while other sources predicted only a "chance of showers and thunderstorms." Two days earlier, AccuWeather was also the first known source to specifically mention "the significant risk of flash flooding, hail, and damaging wind gusts."

AccuWeather Storm Warning Meteorologists issued numerous life-saving SkyGuard^®Warnings which in many cases provided significantly more advance notice than any other source. These warnings benefited AccuWeather for Business SkyGuard^® customers as well as users of the AccuWeather Alert^TM service, including our subscription services such as Premium+ in the AccuWeather app. Examples include:

• AccuWeather Expert Storm Warning Meteorologists issued a lifesaving SkyGuard^® Tornado Warning for the Bridgeland, TX, area. This exclusive warning provided 22 minutes of ADDITIONAL life-saving advance notice over the government's National Weather Service and other known sources before destructive thunderstorms moved through the area.

• AccuWeather Expert Storm Warning Meteorologists issued a lifesaving SkyGuard^® Tornado Warning for the Cypress, TX, area. This warning exclusively provided 12 minutes of ADDITIONAL life-saving advance notice over the government's National Weather Service and other known sources before a tornado and destructive thunderstorms moved through the area.

• AccuWeather Expert Storm Warning Meteorologists issued a lifesaving SkyGuard^® Tornado Warning for the Houston, TX, area. This exclusive warning provided 28 minutes of ADDITIONAL life-saving advance notice over the government's National Weather Service and other known sources before destructive thunderstorms moved through the downtown area, blowing out windows in high-rises.

Talk to an AccuWeather expert today and begin using the benefits of AccuWeather's SkyGuard Severe Weather Warnings to better protect your business from all severe weather risks.

Farther east along the Gulf Coast, AccuWeather was the only known source to consistently predict damaging wind gusts across southern Louisiana including the city of New Orleans. Other sources, including the government's Storm Prediction Center (SPC) flip-flopped, first predicting damaging winds, then completely removing the risk, before adding it back just hours before the storms struck. AccuWeather customers received information that was more consistently accurate, detailed and actionable, allowing them to best prepare for the severe storms.

The following feedback was proactively shared with AccuWeather the morning after the storms:

"AccuWeather is the only reason my family was safe during the Houston severe storms on May 16th. Your alert's timeliness gave me the time I needed to prepare my family and my home for the onslaught we would soon endure. My cell phone's emergency alerts did not go off until 20 minutes after the storm had fully passed. That’s the difference between life and death! I’m an avid weather watcher...I highly advocate AccuWeather to all of my followers and also preach...having multiple ways to get alerts because, as yesterday proved, many of my other methods failed me. By the time the storm was on top of us, merely 7 minutes after AccuWeather alerted me of the hurricane force winds, I’d lost cell service and data was intermittent. But due to your platform, we already had everything we needed ready to go when disaster struck. Please share my heartfelt thanks with your leadership teams and to the hard-working staff that makes the magic happen behind the scenes!"

-Michele, AccuWeather user, May 17, 2024

>> Click here to watch the video.

More than 100 times every year, AccuWeather has been documented as providing more accurate, more advance notification of significant and extreme weather events that impact businesses and threaten the health, welfare, and lives of individuals. AccuWeather is proven to be the most accurate source of weather forecasts and warnings.

These are additional examples of the many weather events where AccuWeather provided superior forecasts and impact descriptions to people, communities, and businesses, helping them better prepare and stay safe.

Severe weather rips path of destruction across Houston

AccuWeather's SkyGuard Severe Weather Warnings

AccuWeather SkyGuard® severe weather warnings protect people and facilities in emergencies and communicate instantly with a high level of accuracy through multiple channels and methods of dissemination, all customized to the client's needs. SkyGuard warnings provide the most accurate, proactive notification of impending threats to specific locations when severe weather threatens human lives, facilities, or business operations – 24/7, 365 days a year. AccuWeather's team of expert meteorologists develop SkyGuard warnings specifically for the severe weather threats and locations that matter to each client, including tornadoes, hail, flooding, ice, black ice, high winds, lightning, and much more. SkyGuard warnings are backed by always on-call expert consultants to help businesses and institutions make early, actionable decisions.

AccuWeather continues to deliver invaluable, life-saving warnings around severe weather events, such as tornadoes, with an average of 16 minutes advance notice compared to government warnings that provide an average of 8 minutes notice. Minimizing false alarms has only added to the credibility and value of AccuWeather's life-saving warnings when the threat is real.

Talk to an AccuWeather expert today and begin using the benefits of AccuWeather's SkyGuard Severe Weather Warnings to better protect your business from all severe weather risks.

AccuWeather Exclusively Provides Numerous Life-Saving Tornado Warnings Ahead of All Other Known Sources for Second Day in a Row