Success Story
Protecting tens of thousands of music fans... and a train
Overview
- “There’s some heavy weather coming in... it’s going to take a half-hour to get everyone to safety... We are on the phone with AccuWeather.” — Alt-rock icon Eddie Vedder
Solution
- Wrigley Field site safety staff enacted their severe weather plan, relocating all fans to shelter. A cloud-to-ground lightning bolt struck behind the stage just minutes later. Thanks to the AccuWeather alert and proactive planning, no one was harmed.
- At the same time as AccuWeather For Business was warning the concert-goers at Wrigley Field, thunderstorms in Mexico were being monitored for threats to clients. In response to our unique intelligence, meteorologists issued a flash flood warning for Ferromex, the largest railroad in that nation. Trains were shut down in response. At dawn, it was discovered the track washed out in several places. Had a train traveled over the damaged section of track, a derailment likely would have occurred, risking the safety of crew and costing millions of dollars in material loss and associated remediation.
- AccuWeather For Business is the only organization that can produce these results. Mexico does not have adequate weather radar coverage, so AccuWeather For Business developed and patented a technique using weather satellite and lightning data to create accurate flash flood warnings.
- “Your folks gave us the tools we needed to prevent a major mishap. Please give my thanks to your employees for a job well done.” – Al Cisneros, Ferromex
Results
- Wrigley Field staff had an emergency plan in place and were able to relocate fans to shelter before lightning struck.
- Ferromex averted disaster by shutting trains down, thereby avoiding sections of washed-out track due to flooding detected by AccuWeather.
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