Climavision is providing expanded weather forecasting services to help data centers better respond to changing conditions for grid management.

Climavision, a provider of weather forecasting data to utilities, power producers, and government agencies, expanded its network of 31 radars across 15 states to serve data centers beginning Sept. 10. The move underscores the growing role of data centers in grid management, as these facilities increasingly require precise meteorological data to navigate operational challenges.

According to CEO Chris Goode, the company’s radars cover regions where publicly available federal forecast monitors lack accuracy. Goode, a former U.S. Air Force forecaster, explained that the government’s NEXRAD weather monitors are configured so their atmospheric data beams reach over 10,000 feet above ground level. “That means you’re missing all of the weather that occurs from 10,000 feet to the ground, which is substantial,” Goode said. “There’s still a tremendous amount that’s happening at those levels, and if you know it is happening then you can inform those predictive models.” Climavision’s service fills this gap by combining its collected data with public datasets, commercial sources, and customers’ own sensors to deliver high-resolution forecasts tailored to specific wind farms, substations, or campuses rather than relying on regional averages. Goode declined to share pricing information.

As larger data centers seek grid connections, they are increasingly expected to manage their own generation, storage, and demand response—functions traditionally handled by utilities. Accurate weather predictions enable these facilities to avoid curtailment during tight grid conditions by activating on-site resources such as generation, storage, demand response, or fuel-switching. “What we’ve constructed is a set of solutions that can help to mitigate the sudden impacts of increased demand for energy, coupled with perhaps the chance that the wind doesn’t blow, or that that sun doesn’t shine, or it doesn’t rain in those areas,” said Goode. “Those solutions allow us to avoid very bad surprises: strains to the grid, which causes power outages.”

Precise weather forecasting is critical for predicting renewable output and managing grid reliability. Research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that improved solar forecasts, for example, reduce the spare capacity utilities must hold to account for prediction errors by 30%. Weather volatility also heavily impacts non-renewable resources; sudden temperature swings can spike fuel costs, while severe events like 2021’s Winter Storm Uri demonstrated how freezing temperatures can cripple natural gas infrastructure and leave unprepared customers vulnerable.

Climavision has partnered with CenterPoint Energy since Winter Storm Uri to help maintain power during extreme weather, including January’s Winter Storm Fern. “Our ability to give them insights with greater time of the impending weather … allows them to harden their infrastructure and to prepare so that they don't suffer long duration outages,” he said.

The company’s 15-state radar footprint spans several key energy markets, including Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee within the PJM Interconnection. Additional coverage extends to Louisiana, Georgia, and Mississippi—states currently attracting billions in investment from tech giants Meta, OpenAI, and Amazon for new data center development.