iRainStat

Powerful. Unique. Affordable.

iRainStat is a new, powerful and unique suite of products that portray near real-time rainfall in terms of a "return period." As society and infrastructure become increasingly more vulnerable and impacted by extreme rainfall, the requirement for timely, accurate and informative rainfall information is paramount to protecting property, saving lives and efficiently managing water. Rainfall data is becoming increasingly available to decision makers, but translating it into meaningful information to support decisions is lacking…until now. The purpose of iRainStat is to provide an objective, timely, and accurate depiction of rainfall in terms of an average recurrence interval (probability) so users can make appropriate decisions, confirm the severity of events and/or activate emergency plans.

iRainStat is based on the industry's highest resolution and most accurate gauge-corrected radar-estimated rainfall from Weather Decision Technologies, Inc. and official precipitation frequency estimates published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The rainfall data, which is based on quality-controlled rain gauge data and mosaiced NEXRAD radar data, is converted into an average recurrence interval (ARI) for every location in the continental United States every hour. The data is then provided in several formats for integration into web sites and applications.

iRainStat Packages

To meet your needs we offer three different customizable packages, each with a different level of monitoring. The selected products are uploaded to a password-protected directory on metstat.com for you to either download or link to from your web sites and/or applications.

All packages include:

• Password protected access to products
• FREE 1-month on-line archive
• A ~5,000 square mile domain (65 miles east-west by 75 miles north-south of a center point)*
• 99% up-time reliability
• 24/7 E-mail support
• ARIs up to 1000-years
• Maximum ARI product delivered four times a day (0000, 0600, 1200 and 1800 UTC).

* Contact us for larger or smaller domains.

Three tiers of packages are provided. Level 1 is the most basic, while Level 3 has the lowest latency and highest volume of data. The maximum iRainStat products are produced every 6 hours and represent the maximum 6-hour and 24-hour ARIs over the past 48 and 72 hours respectively. The maximum iRainStat products are an excellent perspective of a storms' ARI.

Alternatively, you can special order products from our archive (July 2010-present) for a single event. Simply supply us the specific date/time, desired duration and location of the event.

When ordering, you must provide a center location city/town name or longitude/latitude coordinate. The 5,000 square-mile domain will be centered on this location.

Contact us for customized products.

Level 1 - once-a-day iRainStat map

6-months $29.94 1-year (20% discount) $47.90 2-years (30% discount) $83.83

Duration

6-hour 24-hour

Center location (city, state or lat/lon)

Level 1 - once-a-day iRainStat shapefile

6-months $41.94 1-year (20% discount) $67.10 2-years (30% discount) $117.43

Duration

6-hour 24-hour

Center location (city, state or lat/lon)

Level 1 - once-a-day iRainStat grid

6-months $53.94 1-year (20% discount) $86.30 2-years (30% discount) $151.03

Duration

6-hour 24-hour

Center location (city, state or lat/lon)

Level 2 - four-a-day iRainStat map

6-months $119.76 1-year (20% discount) $191.62 2-years (30% discount) $335.33

Duration

6-hour 24-hour

Center location (city, state or lat/lon)

Level 2 - four-a-day iRainStat shapefile

6-months $167.76 1-year (20% discount) $268.42 2-years (30% discount) $469.73

Duration

6-hour 24-hour

Center location (city, state or lat/lon)

Level 2 - four-a-day iRainStat grid

6-months $215.76 1-year (20% discount) $345.22 2-years (30% discount) $604.13

Duration

6-hour 24-hour

Center location (city, state or lat/lon)

Level 3 - Every-hour iRainStat map

6-months $718.56 1-year (20% discount) $1,149.70 2-years (30% discount) $2,011.97

Duration

6-hour 24-hour

Center location (city, state or lat/lon)

Level 3 - Every-hour iRainStat shapefile

6-months $1,006.56 1-year (20% discount) $1,610.50 2-years (30% discount) $2,818.37

Duration

6-hour 24-hour

Center location (city, state or lat/lon)

Level 3 - Every-hour iRainStat grid

6-months $1,294.56 1-year (20% discount) $2,071.30 2-years (30% discount) $3,624.77

Duration

6-hour 24-hour

Center location (city, state or lat/lon)

Select iRainStat product/format for single event

ARI map $199.00 ARI shapefile $249.00 ARI grid $299.00 Maximum ARI map $249.00 Maximum ARI shapefile $299.00 Maximum ARI grid $349.00

Duration

6-hour 24-hour

Center location (city, state or lat/lon)

Date/time of event

Definition of ARI

ARI is defined as the average, or expected, period of time between exceedances of a given rainfall amount over a given duration. For example, suppose 5 inches of rain at a location is equivalent to an ARI of 100 years. This means 5 inches of rain is only expected to occur, on average, every 100 years at this location. Since the ARI is an average, a similar or even larger, rainfall amount could occur again this year, next year or any other year. It does NOT mean an event of this magnitude will not occur again for 100 years. The ARI can be also be described as a probability or percent chance of occurring in any given year. The table below converts the different terminologies.

It is important to understand that the ARI of rainfall does not necessarily equate to a flood of the same ARI. Floods can be caused by heavy rain, spring snowmelt, dam/levee failure and/or limited soil absorption. The degree of flooding from heavy rainfall depends on the rainfall intensity, duration, topography, soil conditions, ground cover, basin size and infrastructure design. Rain associated with a 1 to 5 year ARI can cause significant urban flooding since most urban storm water systems are designed for 1-10 year ARI rainfall events. ARIs for highway and other transportation infrastructure typically vary from 10 to 25. However, it is a near certainty that rainfall associated with ARIs greater than 100-year will cause major flooding, regardless of anything else. Dams and levees are generally designed for rainfall ARIs much larger than 500 years, but can be compromised during ARIs of 100-500+ year events.

FAQs

Question: What is the latency of the products.
Answer: The latency of the products varies with (1) extent of precipitation across the United States, (2) the products themselves and (3) the subscription level. Grids are have the lowest latency, followed by shapefiles and finally maps. In general, the latency of all the products ranges from a few minutes to 20 minutes; the maximum ARI products have greater latency.

Question: It is nice to see the equivalent ARI of the rainfall, but I'd also like to know what the actual rainfall was.
Answer: We working on this. For now we suggest you visit http://water.weather.gov/precip/.

If this is critically important to you, please contact us and we can discuss special arrangements until it is bundled into the packages.

Question: I only want the service during the hurricane or west-coast wet season. Can I do that?
Answer: Not yet. We've tried to price the packages such that turning the data feed on and off isn't cost-effective.

Question: How reliable are the results?
Answer: It depends on the several factors.

• Some parts of the United States have updated precipitation frequency estimates (PFEs) based on much more data and better statistical methods than older PFE atlases. Therefore, the PFEs, for which the ARI of the event rainfall is calculated from, have a variety degree of certainly across the US. Visit the documentation posted at NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) Hydrometeorological Design Studies Center (HDSC) for more information.
• With increasing ARIs comes increasing uncertainty, particularly beyond 100-years.
• Since the underlying rainfall data is based, in part, on radar data, areas where radar data is more reliable will have less uncertainly.

Question: I'd like a different duration other than 6- or 24-hours, when will additional durations be available.
Answer: We're working on adding the 1-hour duration by early 2011. After that, our emphasis is going to be on creating forecast ARI maps.

Question: I'd like to receive alerts via email, pager or text message when the ARI exceeds a certain threshold in my area. Is that possible?
Answer: We're working on this technology. We will notify all of our clients when this functionality is available.

Question: I'd like to receive iRainStat for the entire United States. Is that possible?
Answer: Certainly, yes. Contact us for pricing.

Question: What is the refund policy?
Answer: Since we allocate computer resources and disk space for customers, full refunds are not available. However, 50% of the prorated remaining service period is refundable. For instance, if you purchased 2 years of Level 1 ARI maps for $83.83, but choose to stop service after the first year, the prorated balance would be $41.92, of which $20.96 would be refundable.