Chainlink and AccuWeather to Bring World Class Weather Data on to Blockchains

AccuWeather Global Weather Center, August 4, 2021 - We’re excited to announce that global weather and digital media leader, AccuWeather, is bringing its world-leading weather data to blockchains by launching a Chainlink node. Chainlink is the industry-leading secure blockchain middleware, making APIs easily compatible and accessible with any blockchain. Through our Chainlink node, we can supply and sell AccuWeather’s data directly to smart contract applications running on numerous blockchains, as
well as cryptographically sign our data so users know for a fact it came directly from our API.

The ability to connect our premium weather data to blockchain networks is critical to supporting the many new smart contracts being built on-chain for the weather industry. This is because smart contracts are data-driven applications that automate processes like product pricing and contract settlement based directly on data feeds. Thus, smart contract developers need high-quality weather data from sources like AccuWeather to ensure outcomes are representative of true weather conditions. 

“Innovation is in our DNA at AccuWeather and integrating Chainlink demonstrates another way in which we deliver best-in class products to users and consumers in a diverse and growing number of platforms and spaces,” said Kurt Fulepp, AccuWeather Global Chief Product Officer. “As one of the initial weather-related data products to join Chainlink, we are thrilled to expand our reach in bringing value to the emerging blockchain-based market.”

With the effects of climate change taking form, it’s more important than ever to support the development of products and markets that give users the financial tools to hedge against unforeseen weather risks. Some initial smart contract use cases that AccuWeather data can enable include: parametric crop and natural disaster insurance for regions where it’s currently inaccessible, weather prediction markets for hedging against future droughts or sea level rises, supply chain automation that dynamically shifts due to forecast alerts, and even novel digital artwork using NFTs that change based on the current weather conditions.

Using Chainlink to Bridge AccuWeather Data to Blockchains

AccuWeather is a world leader in combining weather data, technology, and human insight to improve lives and businesses affected by changing weather and climate. Backed by 100+ expert meteorologists and leading entrepreneurs, study after study has shown AccuWeather to be the most statistically accurate source of weather forecasts and warnings. AccuWeather offers a wide range of APIs based on location, forecasts, current conditions, indices, weather alerts/alarms, satellite imagery, and more. These APIs not only target very specific regions, but can provide very precise current and future data points like temperature, wind speed, precipitation, windchill, tropical storm categories, etc.

AccuWeather datasets are already widely in use by small companies and large enterprises, making our data a perfect fit to trigger the movement of real economic value on blockchains. Weather is undoubtedly having increasing effects on people’s lives, so we were thrilled to provision new data infrastructure that supports applications which allow anyone around the world to protect against such risks with only an Internet connection. However, blockchains have no capability to make external API calls, necessitating the need for an additional piece of infrastructure known as an oracle to bridge our data into blockchains so it can be used by smart contracts.

After examining several oracle solutions, we identified Chainlink as the industry standard. Not only is Chainlink the most widely used solution for smart contract developers, but it already supports several weather-based applications running on blockchains, such as Arbol and Etherisc for parametric crop insurance. Some of the unique features of Chainlink nodes for data providers, include:

• Data Integrity — Our Chainlink node will cryptographically sign all data we supply on-chain, verifying the origin of data and preventing man-in-the-middle attacks.

• Blockchain Agnostic — Our Chainlink node is compatible with any blockchain environment, serving as a single gateway to sell data to any current or future blockchain.

• Widely Adopted — Chainlink is the most widely used oracle network, providing us access to a vast addressable market of potential data consumers.

• Provably Secure —  Chainlink is thoroughly audited open-source software that already secures tens of billions of dollars in value, showcasing its ability to trigger the automation of high-value smart contacts live in production.

We’re excited to leverage these great features of Chainlink to bring a plethora of premium weather datasets to smart contract developers across different blockchain environments. We’re confident our data can help provision many new blockchain-based weather solutions in sectors like insurance, derivatives, supply chain, and NFTs.

About AccuWeather

AccuWeather, recognized and documented as the most accurate source of weather forecasts and warnings in the world, has saved tens of thousands of lives, prevented hundreds of thousands of injuries and tens of billions of dollars in property damage. With global headquarters in State College, PA and other offices around the world, AccuWeather serves more than 1.5 billion people daily to help them plan their lives and get more out of their day through digital media properties, such as AccuWeather.com and mobile, as well as radio, television, newspapers, and the 24/7 AccuWeather Network channel. Additionally, AccuWeather produces and distributes news, weather content, and video for more than 180,000 third-party websites. 

Among AccuWeather's many innovative and award-winning features available free to the public are MinuteCast® Minute by Minute™ forecasts with Superior Accuracy™.  Furthermore, AccuWeather serves more than half of Fortune 500 companies and thousands of businesses globally. Dr. Joel N. Myers, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, established AccuWeather in 1962 and is considered the "father of modern commercial meteorology." Dr. Myers, a leading creative thinker and visionary, has been named "the most accurate man in weather" by The New York Times and one of the top entrepreneurs in American history by Entrepreneur's Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurs.

The AccuWeather app for Android phone and tablet users is free at the Google Play store. The AccuWeather iOS app is free at the Apple store. Visit accuweather.com for additional information.

About Chainlink

Chainlink is the industry standard oracle network for powering hybrid smart contracts. Chainlink Decentralized Oracle Networks provide developers with the largest collection of high-quality data sources and secure off-chain computations to expand the capabilities of smart contracts on any blockchain. Managed by a global, decentralized community, Chainlink currently secures billions of dollars in value for smart contracts across decentralized finance (DeFi), insurance, gaming, and other major industries.
Chainlink is trusted by hundreds of organizations, from global enterprises to projects at the forefront of the blockchain economy, to deliver definitive truth via secure, reliable oracle networks. To learn more about Chainlink, visit chain.link and subscribe to the Chainlink newsletter. To understand the full vision of the Chainlink Network, read the Chainlink 2.0 whitepaper. Want to discuss an integration? Talk to an expert.