Retail

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NOAA's environmental data and information references enhance supply chain resilience, protect economic investments, and safeguard personnel.

As the largest private sector employer in the U.S. economy (representing 6.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2023), the retail sector has significant demand for timely and relevant weather data to inform its strategy, plans, and operations.

Overhead view of a container ship entering from the right side of the frame with a wake streaming behind it; open ocean fills the rest of the image.
Credit: Adobe Stock, provided by moofushi

Since 2021, NOAA has been working with the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and others to identify the data, products, and services the industry relies on. NOAA and RILA are partnering to build useful and user-friendly data products that equip retailers of all sizes with robust and reliable supply chains and assets to build environmental and economic resilience.

Our Goal

By improving the access to and functionality of informational products and services, NOAA is advancing retailers’ capacity to strategically manage supply chains, protect assets, and maximize efficiencies in an effort to build more resilient businesses and strengthen the economy.

 

Delivering Resilience: NOAA for Retailers

Retailers use NOAA data to anticipate weather- and climate-related disruptions, protect inventory and physical assets, optimize supply chains, and support workforce and customer safety. NOAA is engaging directly with retail industry leaders, planners, and operators to improve data products and services. These resources support informed decision making to maintain business continuity, protect investments, and reduce losses through the use of environmental data.

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Credit: NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory

Data-Driven Impacts for Retail

The retail sector utilizes NOAA data and information products that offer regionally relevant historical and future-facing weather intelligence and real-time hazard tracking to inform crucial strategic planning and operational decisions.

Using NOAA data, retailers can identify new site locations, streamline shipping paths, and manage inventory by predicting consumers’ needs based on weather trends and patterns. With accurate information readily available, businesses and organizations of all sizes can better anticipate and rapidly respond to extreme weather events by delivering critical goods to communities and businesses, securing warehouses and distribution facilities, protecting personnel, and developing economically smart business plans for future growth.

"This is about the livelihoods of homes, communities, schools, and hospitals, and ensuring those supply materials are readily available. It’s about using data to understand our changing environment; it’s about preparedness to support the thriving economy of our communities."

Jenny Dissen
NOAA CISESS / NCSU North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies (NCICS)

Through regular working group meetings, the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is working collaboratively with retailers to prioritize the development of new and updated data products, improve data accessibility, and ensure industry partners can easily find and use the information they need. This webpage is a curation of key datasets and products identified by retailers, including:

An updated and comprehensive Storm Events Database interface and a high-impact Event Footprint Catalog (new product in development) to help retailers categorize trends and improve strategic planning by anticipating impacts of extreme weather on specific regions and disruptions to supply chains.

New products in development that support decision making for long-term success include an in-depth Climate Atlas which offers customizable climatological maps that can support retailers with seasonal stock planning and inventory management, and the Wind Climatology tool that will provide retailers with insights to strategically plan for wind and possible wildfire conditions to protect their assets and personnel.

A curated selection of Hurricane Data Resources and Products, including ADT-HURSAT, a dataset of storm intensity estimates with use-case examples (building off the existing HURSAT dataset), and the IBTrACS product that visualizes regional trends and historical information.

These products, as well as Case Studies that share examples of users effectively using weather data, can assist the retail industry in numerous ways, from long-term strategic sales planning to on-the-ground decision making to prepare for both acute and long-term weather events and mitigate effects on the supply chains, their assets, their employees, and their communities.

Products

ADT-HURSAT

ADT-HURSAT

Period of record: 1979 - 2024, static

This product applies the Automated Dvorak Technique (ADT) from the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) to the HURSAT dataset, producing a consistent record of storm intensity estimates. The interface will include the dataset and will have direct download functionality, Python notebooks to aid users in the data download process, and simple use case examples within the notebook for retailers to integrate into hurricane risk analysis and preparedness. This update was released in March 2026.
Credit: Flickr, National Museum of the U.S. Navy

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Automated Surface Observing Systems (ASOS)

Automated Surface Observing Systems (ASOS)

Period of record: 1901–Present

In a joint collaboration between the National Weather Service, the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of War, hourly and daily weather data is collected from over 900 U.S. sites and fed into other datasets and applications at NCEI. ASOS provides essential weather data for aviation across the U.S., ensuring people and cargo are transported securely. Retailers depend on resilient and efficient supply chains to source products, protect their profit margin and business continuity, and ensure products are available for customers and communities. To ensure long-term sustainability, NCEI is revising the back-end code that manages this data to meet modern coding standards.
Credit: Flickr, Oli Lynch

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Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (BDD)

Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (BDD)

Period of record: 1980–2024

The BDD offers risk assessments at the county level for retailers and is responsible for tracking 400 historical weather and climate events totaling $2.785 trillion in damages. By combining extreme weather and economic data, this product quantifies previous national disasters and provides risk metrics based on disaster exposure. The data covers hazards like droughts, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires.
Credit: U.S. Army National Guard photo courtesy of SC-HART

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Climate Atlas

Climate Atlas

Period of record: 1895–Present

NCEI is updating U.S. Climate Atlas, where users will have access to a collection of interactive and customizable temperature and precipitation climatology maps. NCEI is adding threshold maps, such as the number of days in a year over/under a certain temperature, and maps on various events, such as the first frost date or the hottest day of the year. Included datasets will be updated on an ongoing monthly basis. Retailers can integrate this collection of monthly pre-generated temperature, precipitation, and degree-day maps for inventory management and seasonal stock planning. This update is scheduled for the fall of 2026.
Credit: Flickr, NOAA Photo Library

Event Footprint Catalog (EFC)

Event Footprint Catalog (EFC)

Period of record: 2010–Present

The EFC will map the geographic footprints of high-impact weather events. Featuring an interactive map, the catalog will include a searchable index of historical weather events such as severe convective storms, including tornadoes, hail, and severe wind events. Users will define the area of interest for mapped weather event impact footprints and will be able to download map layers with event details. This will help retailers assess risks, plan responses to upcoming weather events, and characterize past high-impact events. The first phase of the product will focus on severe convective hazards and is expected by late summer 2026.
Credit: Flickr, NOAA Photo Library

International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS)

International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS)

Period of record: 1842–Present

By combining recent and historical global tropical cyclone data, IBTrACS creates a comprehensive collection of tropical cyclone (hurricane) tracks, aiding retailers with improving their planning for and emergency response to hurricanes by visualizing regional trends and assessing how risks are evolving over space and time. NCEI is revising the back-end code that manages this data to meet modern coding standards. This update is scheduled for release in the summer of 2026.
Credit: NASA Johnson Space Center, Mike Trenchard, Earth Sciences & Image Analysis Laboratory

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Storm Events Database (SED)

Storm Events Database (SED)

Period of record: 1950–Present* 75 day delay

The SED offers access to National Weather Service Storm Data, which documents over 55 types of storm events and other significant weather phenomena to support inventory planning for retailers and guide the design of weather-resilient infrastructure. The latest SED update includes interactive maps and event-specific details and photos, and automated PDF generation of selected events (including event type, time, location, magnitude, estimated cost of damages, and photos).
Credit: NOAA Digital Collection, Sean Waugh

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U.S. Precipitation Time Series Explorer (PTE)

U.S. Precipitation Time Series Explorer (PTE)

The PTE tool will provide hourly precipitation estimates from NOAA’s Multi-Radar-Multi-Sensor (MRMS) precipitation data for any given location in the U.S. (including all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), both historically and in near real-time. This will help users better understand exceedance potential, frequency, and the risk of extreme rainfall events. Retailers can use this product to inform decisions related to emergency preparedness, supply chain continuity, warehouse/storefront site selection and flood-resilient design.
Credit: Flickr, NOAA Photo Library

Wind Climatology

Wind Climatology

Period of record: 1985 - Present

This product will provide wind climatology for the contiguous U.S. The dataset will offer a means to better understand long-term trends in wind conditions by location. This data can be used by retailers in models and to encourage long-term resilience and aid in protecting significant assets, like warehouses and businesses. 
Credit: Flickr, NPS Climate Change Response

NOAA Industry Partnerships' 2026 Hurricane Outlook Webinar

NOAA experts from the National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center and Climate Prediction Center share the latest seasonal outlook, updates on hurricane products and services, and resources to help organizations prepare for potential impacts.

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