The stereotypical Southern California day is sunny and 75, but Southern California Edison’s Weather Services team knows better.
“California’s weather is far from boring,” said SCE meteorologist Jacqueline Bennett.
With extreme weather events growing more frequent, the group has recently helped SCE navigate rainstorms, snowstorms, windstorms, tornados and even hurricanes.
“We are very much ahead of the game within the utility space. We are leading the way by providing companywide situational awareness using innovative new forecasting tools and technology,” said SCE meteorologist David Siuta.
The company depends on the precision of the team’s forecast to prepare for all weather events and the possible implications for its infrastructure and customers.
“We have such a big forecast area stretching from Santa Barbara to Arizona and up into the Sierra Nevada. It’s rare for us to have days where there’s nothing going on,” said SCE meteorologist Harrison Prieto.
The team of seven originates from all over the country, so they have experienced a wide range of weather patterns.
For instance, Bennett has a background in TV news, where she worked in several different climates. She insists that the difficulty of forecasting in California rivals anywhere in the nation.
“I would argue it’s harder,” she said. “There’s not as much data from weather systems coming off the Pacific.”
“The very sharp difference in the desert continental air mass, marine air mass and the terrain that separates the two creates unique challenges in forecasting. California is one of the few places in the world that has that setup,” said SCE meteorologist Nicholas Sette.
But that challenge is half the fun, and the intricacy of weather patterns is what drew them to the profession.
Even as children, they knew exactly what they wanted to be when they grew up.
“I remember growing up in New Jersey and experiencing really intense snowstorms,” Siuta said. “I loved to watch my dog disappear into mounds of snow and pop right back up. Seeing so much impactful weather at such a young age ignited this passion.”
Meteorologist David Siuta is tracking wind speeds throughout the SCE service area, which spans 50,000 square miles.
Prieto has a similar memory, but instead of snow, he recalls hurricane force winds knocking down tree after tree as he sat watching from his front porch in southern Louisiana.
“Looking back, that was probably pretty dumb,” he said. “When Hurricane Katrina happened in 2005, it became more serious; I needed to learn more about the weather and how to forecast it.”
Machine learning, which uses previous weather patterns to improve forecasting, has been a game-changer.
“For predicting high winds specifically, our efforts in machine learning have increased our accuracy by 40%,” Siuta said.
About 27% of SCE’s service area is categorized as high fire risk, which heightens the importance of reliable forecasting. SCE’s team of meteorologists take pride in the seriousness of their work.
“Everything we do is important to somebody and has an impact somewhere, and I think what's true for all of us is that this job gives us a real sense of purpose,” Prieto said.
For more information on SCE’s efforts to keep customers and the public safe, visit sce.com/safety.
