Forbes Indonesia - July 2019

JULY 2019 FORBES INDONESIA | 63

AccuWeather, despite the fact that the company paid

$290,000 in 2018 to settle a Department of Labor investi-

gation that found “widespread sexual harassment at Accu-

Weather.” “We denied all that,” he says.

“There was no proof of harassment,” says Barry, who

had the top job at the time.

Less easy to dismiss is the pack of hungry competitors

that are looking to eat AccuWeather’s lunch, though Joel

tries to with a blanket “I’m not going to sit here and talk

about competitors” before allowing, in a later interview,

that “Everything is accelerating. Any business leader who

says he knows what the world will look like in 20 years is

making it up.”

Where AccuWeather will be in 2039, when Joel is 99

years old, is anyone’s guess. The company won’t discuss

specifics of its succession plans, and none of Joel’s seven

children are involved with the business day to day. The

Myerses are surprisingly sanguine about the future.

“Eighty is the new 60,” Barry says. “Joel’s an energetic

guy. He’s working 24-7, and he loves what he does.”

“I’ve seen lots of new companies come along,” Joel

says. “Some of them will find a niche, and some of them

will fail.” F

Others are skeptical. “ClimaCell makes a lot of claims,
but I’ve never seen proof of anything,” says Clifford Mass,
a longtime University of Washington atmospheric sci-
ences professor. “Street cameras are not going to improve
weather forecasting.”
Elkabetz counters that prospective customers are giv-
en proof of its claims.
ForecastWatch’s Eric Floehr is as close as it comes
to an expert with a broad view of the private forecasting
business. He says the jury is out on Saildrone, ClimaCell
and Jupiter Intelligence. What about ClimaCell’s assertion
that its forecasts are 60% more accurate than the compe-
tition’s? “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evi-
dence,” he says.

CRITICISM of AccuWeather has been heating up since
Trump nominated Barry Myers to head NOAA. Wide-
spread reports have alleged the company engaged in a
multiyear effort to push the government out of providing
free weather forecasts. Despite the reams of coverage, Joel
Myers angrily denies it, “That’s a bunch of bullshit,” he
fumes. “Nobody was trying to restrict the role of the Na-
tional Weather Service.”
He also flatly denies that harassment took place at

ACCUWEATHER

Founded: 1962 by CEO Joel Myers

Private forecasts for consumers, media outlets

and enterprises

Number of employees: 500

Money raised: Self-funded

“THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN A

WEATHER FORECAST IS ACCURACY. WE

STAND BY OUR NAME, AND THE STATISTICS

SUPPORT IT.”

JUPITER INTELLIGENCE

Founded: 2017 by CEO Rich Sorkin
Combines weather, climate and terrain data to
create geographically-specific risk profiles
Number of employees: 50
Money raised: $33 million

“UNDERSTANDING CLIMATE RISK IS ONE
OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES FOR THE
PLANET.”