MeteoGroup

Key takeaways

MeteoGroup belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect MeteoGroup to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of MeteoGroup from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

MeteoGroup was a private weather forecasting organisation based in Europe, with offices also in the United States. MeteoGroup provided weather information to markets that included transport, marine, agriculture, energy and the media. MeteoGroup had a portfolio of weather apps: WeatherPro, MeteoEarth and Magical Weather. In 2013, MeteoGroup was acquired by General Atlantic. In 2018, MeteoGroup was acquired by TBG AG. In November 2019, MeteoGroup was integrated into US weather services company DTN (also owned by TBG).

History In 1986, Meteo Consult B.V, was set up in the Netherlands by Harry Otten, a Dutch TV weather presenter. It was one of the first European private-sector weather businesses. At that time, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute dominated all the Dutch markets and access by private companies to essential meteorological data and models was severely restricted. Meteo Consult lobbied the Government of the Netherlands for fair and equal data access, and for the opening of weather markets to the private sector. As a result, Meteo Consult grew in both the media and B2B markets.

Initial European expansion In the early 1990s Meteo Consult started expanding outside of the Netherlands and also into marine services. The company began working with a major international energy and petrochemical company to develop an on-board routing system for the shipping market. SPOS, its proprietary weather routing system, is now a market leader and is installed on over 2,000 vessels worldwide. In 1993 Meteo Consult set up its first business outside the Netherlands when a joint venture for the German market was established in Berlin. In 1998 the joint venture came to an end and its wholly owned German subsidiary MC-Wetter was established.

Joint venture with PA Further European expansion quickly followed. In 1996 Meteo Consult became a majority shareholder in Meteo Services in Belgium (now MeteoGroup Belgium) and in 1997 a joint venture was established with the Press Association in the UK - PA WeatherCentre. In 1998 Meteo Consult acquired a majority shareholding in MeteoGraphics, a graphics business specialising in visualising weather. Also based in Berlin, MeteoGraphics works closely with the German subsidiary of MeteoGroup. In May 2005, a majority shareholding in Meteo Consult B.V was acquired by the PA Group, an international group of news, containing information and communications businesses which include the Press Association, the national news agency of the UK and Ireland. The Press Association and Meteo Consult had worked together since 1997 in a successful joint venture in the UK, PA WeatherCentre Ltd, now MeteoGroup UK, combining the meteorological skills of Meteo Consult with the packaging and delivery skills of the Press Association. This acquisition broadened PA Group's diversified information services for international markets, helping the company to enter new markets.

Rebranding as MeteoGroup In September 2006, the business was re-branded as MeteoGroup, which brought together all its businesses under a single brand. Meteo Consult has retained its original brand name alongside the strapline 'A MeteoGroup Company'. MeteoGroup España was launched in 2006 with an office in Madrid and, in 2007, MeteoGroup opened new weather operations in Poland (MeteoGroup Polska) and Sweden (MeteoGroup Scandinavia). A new business was launched in France in April 2009 (MeteoGroup France), bringing the number of European MeteoGroup operations to eight.

Launch of US office In 2010 MeteoGroup expanded into the United States and launched MeteoGroup USA. In May 2011, MeteoGroup acquired Nowcasting International Limited, an Ireland-based company specialising in technology for offshore weather forecasting. The company now forms part of MeteoGroup Offshore, a dedicated division supplying meteorological and oceanographic products and services to the offshore industry. At the end of 2011 MeteoGroup Italia was set up in Italy. In the summer of 2017 MeteoGroup withdrew from the US transportation business, ending all relationships with their US sales force.

Expansion into Southeast Asia In July 2012, MeteoGroup Singapore was launched, initially focusing on providing weather products and services to the Southeast Asian shipping and offshore markets.

Major European acquisition In September 2013, MeteoGroup acquired mminternational (Europe) AG, a major Swiss-German weather company. According to its press release, this expanded MeteoGroup's global operations to 14 countries, making it one of the largest weather companies in the world with almost 400 employees and combined annual turnover of more than €50 million.

BBC Weather On 6 February 2018 BBC Weather changed supplier after nearly a century from the government Met Office to MeteoGroup, after being required to put its weather services out to tender. Some claimed that the BBC's forecasts were less accurate following the change to MeteoGroup. In 2025 the Met Office was reinstated as BBC weather service provider, as an agreement between the two organisations in the interests of public service rather than a commercial relationship involving procurement.

Acquisition by TBG AG In 2018 MeteoGroup was acquired by TBG AG, a private venture capital firm based in Zurich, Switzerland.

Integration into DTN In November 2019, MeteoGroup was integrated into US weather services company DTN (also owned by TBG AG) and was rebranded as DTN, establishing a DTN European headquarters in Utrecht, Netherlands.

References

External links

Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with MeteoGroup

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what MeteoGroup claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to MeteoGroup before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about MeteoGroup ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of MeteoGroup

In research: MeteoGroup appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses MeteoGroup in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: MeteoGroup is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Business services companies established in 1986, Consulting firms established in 1986, Dutch companies established in 1986, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for MeteoGroup outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study MeteoGroup in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what MeteoGroup means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain MeteoGroup out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is MeteoGroup in simple terms?

MeteoGroup was a private weather forecasting organisation based in Europe, with offices also in the United States. MeteoGroup provided weather information to markets that included transport, marine, agriculture, energy and the media.

Why does MeteoGroup matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study MeteoGroup?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on MeteoGroup.