Weathermen titled it the "Storm of the Century." Airports cancelled flights at its mere mention. Schools closed. Businesses hunkered down. And power companies prepped crews for the worst. But the worst never came, symbolizing the inherent flaw of weather predictions: They are simply predictions, not facts. No one can guarantee the sun will shine tomorrow, nor that the snow will come. However―Storm of the Century aside―a number of companies, including Weather Services International, Earth Satellite Corp. and WeatherMarkets.com (a division of Plan-alytics) bank on their estimates about tomorrow's weather, along with just how warm it will be next week. And they sell those educated guesses to power generators, utilities and major energy traders. "The gas industry used to be our major energy client base," said Matt Rogers, manager of energy weather services for Earth Satellite Corp. "But power, from big distributors and marketers like Enron and Duke to local utilities, is becoming as big╚Dor bigger―for us now."
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