WeatherWatch.co.nz has shown strong growth throughout 2010 according to Google Analytics.

The growth has exceeded all expectations with the site gaining over 39% more visits than in 2009.

“Considering 2010 has been a fairly quiet year weatherwise we’re quite humbled by the figures” says Philip Duncan, head weather analyst at WeatherWatch.co.nz.

“It reinforces what we already know, that weather plays a major part in the lives of New Zealanders and that weather news and personalised forecasts are the way of the future – and that all content must be free to access”.

The large storm in September, which was exclusively predicted first by WeatherWatch.co.nz, created the biggest spike in ratings.  “It wasn’t a matter of creating headlines, as the hits clearly show that people came to WeatherWatch.co.nz while the storm was hitting and not the week before when we first predicted it.  I believe it’s these early discussions of systems moving in that many find useful” says Mr Duncan.

Exclusive weather photos and news stories have also been picked up frequently by the big players in news, including the New Zealand Herald, Newstalk ZB and Prime News.  CNN, BBC and Sky News have also run exclusive WeatherWatch.co.nz content throughout 2010.

While WeatherWatch.co.nz remains fairly small compared to the mainstream media the website is proving to be the trusted source in weather news.  “During the September storm we had more hits than some mainstream news websites and we certainly gave some of them a run for their money during the Christchurch earthquake and Chile tsunami.  If it’s a natural disaster people come to our site – weather related or not”.

The website had 1.8 million pageviews over 2010, up almost 43% on last year while demands for WeatherWatch.co.nz’s independent Auckland forecasts jumped 86% over the previous year.

The biggest jump in ratings was in the News section.  “We have made a major effort to increase the number of stories we produce on our quieter weeks” says Mr Duncan.

The WeatherWatch.co.nz Archives show that in December 2007 just 12 stories were published to the site.  In 2008 that jumped to 118, in 2009 it climbed to 197 and this December it will have a total of 230 stories for the month – that equates to about 7 or 8 new stories every day.

Mr Duncan says there are big plans for 2011.  “We are aware our site hasn’t changed much over the past 18 months, mostly due to the poor economy slowing our plans down.  In 2011 we are going to be adding a detailed maps page, more news content, videos and more forecasts”.

WeatherWatch.co.nz thanks all the regular readers and contributors for helping make 2010 a successful year – and we wish you all the best for 2011.