Coronavirus impact on TWO

Anticipated effects

17th March 2020

COVID-19 coronavirus

The coronavirus is sweeping across the world and most experts think it will continue to be a massive issue for months or even longer. Although online publishers such as TWO are probably better sheltered than many businesses, for example those in the hospitality industry, it will have significant impacts. Some are likely to be unanticipated but a number are already know and making their presence felt. 

COVID-19 coronavirus

Website continuity

In October 2018 TWO moved from dedicate hardware to cloud based servers provided by Microsoft in the UK. That means we have a higher degree of resilience than before and are no longer responsible for managing the hardware. The data centers are managed by Microsoft. Certain problems have been identified and mitigating action taken:

1) The SSL certificate has been renewed earlier than necessary

2) The server reservations for the next 12 months are being renewed early 

The website makes extensive use of data from third party sources around the world. Intermittent interruptions occur even during normal times, therefore it is reasonable to assume an increase in the number of problems. That means there could be delays to forecast, chart and satellite image updates. 

Website traffic and revenue

As COVID-19 has taken over the news agenda in recent days there has been a significant drop in traffic to our website. For example, on Monday 16th March it was about 65% lower than it would otherwise have been.  

The busiest time of the year on TWO is usually between April and September. Many people keep a closer eye on the weather due to the number of outdoor events and gatherings taking place. It is reasonable to assume most or all of them will be cancelled during the coming months. Therefore, site traffic levels are likely to remain much lower than is usually the case. In turn that will hit the site revenue stream hard. TWO is owned and operated by a UK based business which means we are subject to VAT and tax on all income.  

How you can help

The easiest way you can help and support us is by continuing to use our website. If you have your own blog or website please consider posting a link on it to our website. If you use social media then please think about giving us a mention or posting a link to the site homepage (https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/). 

Thank you for taking time to read this and stay well! If you have any questions or would like to discuss further please use the link below to email us.

Press and media enquiries

We welcome all press enquiries, whether relating to this news feature, or seeking comment on other weather news.

Contact us

News and information

RECENT WEATHER NEWS



COMPUTER MODELS

INFO

Short range
Short to medium range
Medium to long range
Deterministic
Ensemble

See the Model inventory for the full list of model charts and data