Forensic Meteorologists: Not Just For Slip And Fall Cases

The construction company was sued when the roof of a building that they built collapsed. The construction company was found not liable when we provided information that showed that the weight of the snow and ice on the portion of the roof that collapsed was 50 pounds per square foot, or nearly double the load that local building codes required the roof to withstand.

A multiple vehicle accident occurred in a blinding snow squall. The plaintiff sued, claiming that the road design led to the poor visibility. We provided the defense weather information showing that there were at least 10 other whiteouts produced by snow squalls in the same county that day in locations with design characteristics that varied widely from those of the accident scene. This showed that the road design was not responsible for the whiteout.

A thunderstorm containing high winds blew through a construction site, knocking down a wall that the workers were in the process of constructing. The construction company claimed that the strong winds were very localized and were the result of a microburst, which allowed no time to notify the workers at the construction site. We were able to prove that their theory was correct and that they didn't have time to warn their employees.

The center fielder of a youth baseball team was struck by lightning. He had been in a coma for more than a year. His family sued the umpires for allowing the game to be played in dangerous conditions. We provided information to the attorney for the umpires that showed that the lightning bolt that struck the player was the first and only cloud-to-ground strike within 10 miles of the ballfield that day.

A man was charged with murdering his wife, but he said an intruder committed the murder. We determined that the grass in that neighborhood would have been very wet from dew at the time of the murder. Using that information, the prosecutor was able to disprove the intruder theory.

A farmer's tobacco crop was insured against hail damage. He put in a claim to his insurance company saying his crop was totally destroyed by hail. His claim was denied when we provided the insurance company with information that there was no hail, but there were 90 MPH winds. The farmer was not insured against wind damage.

A ship captain was late arriving at his final destination with a ship full of cargo. The captain claimed that there were strong headwinds during the entire trip, which caused his late arrival. We were able to disprove his claim by determining that there were only headwinds for a small amount of time during his trip and that they were very light.

Tires on a vehicle in Saudi Arabia caused an automobile accident. The reason given was that the tires were faulty and the treads had separated. We were able to help the attorney dispute this claim by providing information on the temperature at the site. The temperature was shown to be much hotter than the tire was produced to withstand.

A company was interested in how the sale of insect repellant varied with the weather. We were able to show that there was a direct correlation between the weather and sales of insect repellent and we were able to provide the company with a means of predicting these shifts in sales for the future.