Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Reviewing the past decade at MemphisWeather.net

As we come to the end of the 2010's and get ready to start messing up the 3rd digit when we write or type the year 201 2020, I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at the last 10 years at MemphisWeather.net (MWN).

From weather website to trusted weather source

The past decade has witnessed a complete transformation of MWN. What was then (in 2009) a fairly primitive website providing some local weather information mainly for my family and friends (and their first, and maybe in a few cases second, order acquaintances) has now become a full-featured independent source of weather information for the eight-county Memphis metropolitan area reaching thousands of you routinely.

The rise of social media

It was in early 2009, now approaching 11 years ago, that MWN first appeared on Facebook and Twitter, just about a year after this blog was started. While those mediums have remained steadfast, others have come (hello IG!) and gone (sayonara Google+)! Social media has completely transformed our way of communicating with you! In fact, we're ending the decade with nearly 41,000 followers of MWN's Facebook and Twitter accounts alone!


Tweet #1! ↓



Social media nowcasting

These social platforms are now the primary way of communicating our weather information to you and allow you to just hit "reply" to get your questions answered or comments seen! The dawn of the social media age also brought about our own rendition of "wall-to-wall" severe weather coverage, called nowcasting, to a hyper-local (Memphis-centric) audience. I am proud to say that MWN was one of the first in the nation to begin providing this "second screen" weather coverage nearly a decade ago! The model has been copied or borrowed in many forms and fashions successfully all across the country. Severe weather nowcasting on MWN social media platforms continues to this day for all severe and winter weather events that affect the Memphis metro! (We're working on a few more of those winter ones! :-) )

#TeamMWN

I've been able to keep the lamps trimmed and burning on the social media side thanks to the amazing work by a team of dedicated social media interns. Employing the assistance of a revolving team of (typically) Mississippi State University meteorology students, these young people learn the ropes of practical meteorological application in the social space as they hone their academic skills in the classroom, making for well-rounded meteorologist candidates upon graduation.


Several have moved right into broadcast, private or public sector weather positions with the skills they learned at MWN in their tool belt! I'm proud of each of them for their dedication to you all, as well as the promising futures each of them have individually in their chosen career path! Thank you to all current and former members of #TeamMWN! And #HailState!



MWN mobile application

Besides social media and the full-featured website that provides most of the information we disseminate, the MWN mobile app - first released early in 2011 - provides a one-stop shop for viewing all of our content, including the most popular products from our website (like the MWN Forecast and StormView Radar) as well as all of our social media feeds. It has also gone through multiple iterations with new features and updated designs along the way. The app has proven to be a great addition to the stable of services offered by MWN. I hope that all of you reading this have it on your phones at this point! (If not, click here to learn more and download!)



Launch of Cirrus Weather Solutions, LLC and StormWatch+

Also in about a month, on National Weatherperson's Day (February 5), Cirrus Weather Solutions, LLC will turn 10 years old! Cirrus operates as the umbrella organization for MWN, JacksonWeather.net (MWN's regional sister site covering the rest of west TN), and StormWatch+, the severe weather alerting tool built into the MWN mobile app and also available as its own national mobile application.

StormWatch+ was deployed initially eight years ago and has gone through multiple iterations since then. In fact, the latest upgrade to the national app, version 4.0, was just released to iOS users the day after Christmas and our first Android app to hit the national market is just around the corner! We've got big plans for our apps in 2020 that we're excited to announce in the near future!


Cirrus Weather also contracts with multiple outdoor events in the Memphis area for on-site weather consulting services that are collectively attended by well over 200,000 patrons each year. These venues have chosen to ensure their guests' safety and comfort by hiring a professional to monitor local weather and serve as the meteorological subject matter expert in the execution of their operational safety plans.


MWN By the Numbers - 2019

Here are some quick facts for the year as we look towards 2020:

  • 75 - MWN Blog posts authored
  • 543 - MWN Forecasts written
  • 17 app updates released (MWN iOS/Android and StormWatch+ iOS)
  • 8 - MWN Social Media Interns (served at some point during the year)
  • 22,293 - Facebook Fans 
    • 1,155 new fans in 2019
  • 18,587 - Twitter followers 
    • 876 new followers in 2019
  • 8.9 Million Twitter post impressions

To end, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all of you who have chosen to make MWN one of your trusted local weather sources for the Memphis area over the past decade! We look forward to making 2020, and the rest of the next decade, even better in service to all of you!



Erik Proseus
MWN Meteorologist

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Follow MWN on Facebook and Twitter for routine updates and the latest info!
Complete MWN Forecast: MemphisWeather.net on the mobile web or via the MWN mobile app
Download our iPhone or Android apps, featuring StormWatch+ severe weather alerts!
MWN is a NOAA Weather Ready Nation Ambassador Meteorologist Erik Proseus is an NWA Digital Seal Holder
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