What is a Weather Expert Witness?

A weather expert witness (or forensic Meteorologist) is someone with expertise in meteorology who provides professional opinions and testimony in legal proceedings to help investigate weather-related events or cases. These experts are often known as Certified Consulting Meteorologists (CCMs) who can assist in matters where weather conditions played a significant role in understanding or determining causation, liability, or damages.

Weather expert witnesses may be involved in various types of legal cases, including:

1. Personal Injury Claims: Providing expert analysis and testimony regarding weather conditions that may have contributed to accidents or injuries. This may involve analyzing weather factors such as road conditions, wind speed, precipitation (rain, snow, ice), visibility, hail or lightning.
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2. Property Damage Claims: Assisting in cases where severe weather events, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or hailstorms, have caused property damage. Weather experts (CCMs) can evaluate the intensity of the event for a hyper-local location to determine the extent to which weather conditions contributed to the damage.
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3. Insurance Disputes: Offering expert Meteorological opinions and analysis in disputes involving insurance coverage related to weather-related incidents. Weather experts (CCMs) can assess the validity of claims and provide insights into the weather-related factors affecting the claim.
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4. Construction Litigation: Assisting in cases where weather conditions have impacted construction projects or led to disputes between parties. Weather experts can assess the impact of weather on project timelines, productivity, delays, and other factors relevant to construction claims.

Weather expert witnesses can provide in-depth knowledge of meteorology, climatology and weather data analysis. They use their expertise to analyze historical, current and future weather data, interpret weather models, assess the impact of weather events, and provide professional opinions and testimony for legal cases.

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