From weather reports on the morning news to push notifications from weather apps, weather data is a part of our everyday lives. As useful as it is alone, insights from weather data can become even more valuable for businesses when combined with location intelligence.  By analyzing these data sets, companies can understand how local weather patterns impact consumer visits and dwell times. 

Let’s look at an example of how this kind of analysis can give insight into consumer behaviors in the travel industry, where business is especially vulnerable to changes in the weather. Gravy used its Visitations data and data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) to determine how weather patterns impacted the number and length of visits at different airports in 2021.

NOAA data showed that a significant amount of precipitation was recorded at Denver International Airport on March 14, 2021. The local news later reported that Denver had received over 27 inches of snow on this day. How did the snowstorm effect visit patterns to this major travel hub?

By looking at Gravy Visitations data for Denver International Airport on this date, we can see a large spike in the amount of time that travelers spent at the airport. Dwell times jumped from an average of 60-90 minutes to almost 6 hours on the same day as the snowstorm. In this instance, there is a clear correlation between this major weather event and its impact on consumer travel.

A more in-depth analysis using location intelligence and weather data could reveal recurring data patterns. For example, if we analyze the rest of 2021 foot traffic data for Denver International Airport, we could observe a pattern of longer dwell times during extreme weather events and shorter dwell times when those events do not occur. Many technology companies today are feeding these data sets into impact models and using artificial intelligence (AI) to predict how weather will affect future business levels and operations in many industries.  

By combining these two data sets, analysts can gain insight into how weather events impact human behavior. Here are some additional use cases of how this type of analysis can help businesses in different industries:

• Retail brands can predict store foot traffic and inform what products to offer based on weather forecasts (e.g. stocking umbrellas ahead of rainy days).
• Restaurants can adjust staffing levels and hours of operation before a weather event hits.
• Emergency managers can effectively guide or evacuate local populations in extreme weather situations.
• Sports and entertainment companies can pivot marketing efforts and fan outreach ahead of impactful weather events.

For more information on Gravy Visitations and how it can be used for data enrichment, speak with a location intelligence expert from Gravy Analytics today.