
CONSTRUCTION, PAVING, & CONTRACTORS
Let's say you have a big decision to make about
tomorrow's rain-sensitive activities, and a wrong decision will cost your
company thousands of dollars. The forecast you hear on radio and television is
"partly cloudy with a 50% chance of rain." Now what do you do?
The Skywatch Weather Center is well known by decision
makers in the construction industry as a proven solution to weather information
problems since 1980. Weather has cost you money in the past, and the problem
will not go away, but here are some examples of how you can trim your losses:
- It's 10 a.m., you have 12 paving crews out, and it
starts to rain... hard. Radio and TV forecasts call for a
50% chance of scattered showers. Forecasters in the Skywatch Weather
Center are diligently watching their maps and radar display, and predict
the rain will last through 3 p.m. Your supervisor is listening to the
radio, and assumes this is just another scattered shower that will last
only about a half-hour, so he keeps the crews out. The rain doesn't stop,
everything's soaked by 1 p.m., and he cancels the rest of the day. At an
average of $240 per hour per crew, your company just wasted $7,200.
- You have plans to pour about a hundred yards of
highway concrete at one of your construction sites, and radio forecasts
call for a 60% chance of scattered thundershowers. The supervisor on site
figures the job will take about three hours. It's high noon and the sky is
blue, bright and innocent-looking. No hint at all of rain. The decision is
made to proceed with the pour. Meanwhile, back at the Skywatch Weather
Center, color radar indicates a line of developing thunderstorms 60 miles
west of the big pour, heading east at 30 miles an hour, with no further
activity behind the line. At 1:45 p.m., the sky suddenly turns darker. By
2:00 p.m., a vicious storm with high winds and heavy rains is in progress.
Wind gusts to 40 mph make it impossible to even try to get the job
covered. At 2:30 p.m. the thunderstorm is finished, and so are about a
hundred yards of concrete and a bunch of crew-hours. Total cost for
cleanup and re-pour comes to $10,000. Had Skywatch been
consulted, the pour would have been delayed or postponed.
- How about the same situation as above, except that
it involves a bridge deck? Now what's the cost? $20,000? $30,000?
- How about 20 crews reporting to work on a rainy
day, only to be sent home after two hours? About nine-thousand
dollars?
In each example, the Skywatch Weather Center could
have saved you thousands of dollars, with just one forecast. This team of
professional forecasters can be available to you every minute of every working
day. Over the duration of a project, you could realize substantial savings.
Skywatch will call the project office every day
(voice, fax, etc.) with a detailed forecast for the following two days and a
general daily outlook through seven days. Meteorologists will continue to
monitor conditions and issue timely updates if necessary. In addition, foremen
and supervisors can call Skywatch toll-free as often as necessary, seven days a
week, for specific information about each job location.
There is no long-term contract involved. You can
terminate the program any time, such as when the project is completed or during
seasonal curtailments.
For more information contact our webmaster
or call us at 1-800-SKYWATCH 1-800-759-9282
Copyright © 2007, Air Science Consultants, Inc.