Europe's state-owned weather services complain that the commercial companies have unfair advantages.
Private companies have also complained about government weather services to the European Commission, claiming that the absence of competition between them proves collusion.
But weather services may not sell the data that have the greatest economic value forecasts for a particular city, for instance outside their national markets.
"Right now we've been getting a few thunderstorms, but they're very severe supercell thunderstorms, " said Michael Scotten, a meteorologist with the National Weather Services.
Over the past five years, global companies, such as Japan's Weathernews, or national forecasters, such as the Netherlands's Meteo Consult, have captured 20% of the market from government weather services.
AeroVironment hopes to generate sales not just from services like the Army and Air Force, but also from the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Homeland Security (for help with border control) and weather services (for storm tracking and disaster recovery).
The state-funded Met Office, which bills itself as "one of the top two national weather services in the world, " is in overdrive, sending extra weather balloons into the atmosphere to try to get a read on what's to come and providing daily updates to government officials and other Olympics honchos.
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With new owners came a new plan: Split DTN into four divisions (agriculture, energy, weather and financial services) to get a better handle on subscribers.
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"We see the Weather Info for All initiative as a major pan-African effort to empower our 188 (nation) members to provide enhanced weather information and services, " said Michel Jarraud, WMO secretary-general.
The bad weather may also affect services Wednesday, she said, with further cancellations or extended journey times.
The company said it was monitoring the weather and that bus services would be reviewed again on Saturday morning.
Nokia has the pieces it needs to begin integrating GPS and cellular communication into all kinds of devices that will offer better real-time traffic, weather and location Web services than a single-function GPS alone can.
It's hoped the shoes will allow binmen to walk safely on snow, preventing disruption to services in bad weather.
Broadcastify streams around 3, 500 scanner channels, including local law enforcement, fire departments, weather service, emergency medical services and the International Space Station.
Food supplies are being airlifted to the island as the weather has also disrupted scheduled ferry services.
BBC: Isle of Man snow causes travel disruption and power cuts
The weather created serious problems for social services, local authorities and businesses and the minister highlighted how the different areas were affected.
Energy supplier SSE has reported a rise in annual profits on the back of cold weather, despite recent disruption to services and a fine from regulators.
In a bid to overcome disruption to services caused by the weather, the council is introducing a "take all" policy after three days of snow-affected collections.
The weather has caused some disruption to bus services, particularly in the Kirklees and Calderdale areas.
Meanwhile, volunteers at Age Concern organisations are preparing to provide a range of emergency services for pensioners as the weather gets colder.
First Capital Connect, who run trains between London and Norfolk through Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, said snow and icy weather across its network was still disrupting services.
BBC: Cambridgeshire Police warn of ice patches on some roads
Tributes were paid by the minister and other AMs to the hard work and dedication of those who kept hospitals and services open during the bad weather.
Features like social media services, live traffic and weather updates and automatic emergency calling will be available in 650 percent more cars worldwide in 2017 than there were in 2010, according to analysts at IMS Research.
Aeroplane services can be affected by weather.
BBC: British International Helicopter on Tresco. Pic: D Sims
The poor weather also caused long delays on east coast services at Grantham in Lincolnshire.
London Midland trains said it was running a normal service, although five services have been altered due to weather conditions.
First Capital Connect operating trains between London and Norfolk through Hertfordshire said severe weather combined with engineering works brought changes to services.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader asked what the Scottish government was planning to "keep people, goods and emergency services moving" during the bad weather.
First Capital Connect operating trains between London, Hertfordshire and Norfolk through Cambridge said severe weather combined with engineering works brought changes to services.
Rail services have been severely disrupted by the weather, with train cancellations by several operators.
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