Romain Weber, 25, created Lyon Météo, a localized forecasting site for individuals and businesses.

-

E. Frisullo / 20 Minutes

  • Lyon Météo was created by a 25-year-old who has made his passion into his profession.

  • Its forecasts, very reliable, are more and more scrutinized by individuals, professionals and certain municipalities of the metropolis.

  • The young man offers free forecasts and much more detailed and comprehensive services to his clients.

When we met him in 2015, Romain Weber, passionate about weather, was a student.

His forecasts were based on small sensors installed in his parents' garden in Bron.

Six years later, this young man has made his passion his job, and his Lyon Météo site into a real business.

Every day, he makes forecasts for the Lyon region, now followed by 40,000 people.

An increasingly strong craze for its local weather forecast due in particular to the clarity and reliability of its information, published on social networks and its website.

"I have never had any big misses", humbly confirms Romain, who created his company in 2019 after having obtained his master's degree in environmental management, "the diploma closest to the weather".

Since then, he has spent hours every day on different French, German and English atmospheric simulation software to analyze the models, interpret them and make his own forecasts.

Mainly available free on social networks, its data is detailed for subscribers, namely individuals and companies who have used its billed services.

Farmers, landscapers or municipalities as clients

Today, a hundred households have subscribed to know the time announced in their sector, but also twenty companies.

"It is with professionals that I live because these are bigger contracts," emphasizes Romain, who provides his services to landscapers, farmers, construction companies and even municipalities.

For each of his clients, he makes detailed weather forecasts and monitors their development throughout the day.

"I am available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to provide information to help with decision-making," he emphasizes.

The young man, associated with the Rhône Chamber of Agriculture within the framework of the Paragrêle 69 system, is for example consulted when large thunderstorms, which can trigger episodes of hail, are announced in the region.

“When the weather is nice, the forecast is pretty straightforward.

The hardest part is to readjust in the event of a particular event, and to change the weather forecast in real time, adds the young man.

We try to predict the future on something we do not fully control ”.

Snowy episode, dust from the Sahara

During the last snowfall announced in the city, his skills and knowledge were put to the test, with very changing weather models which changed the forecasts, almost from hour to hour.

In the end, the snow announced thick in the city center, arrived later than expected, when the temperatures had changed.

Flakes fell, but in smaller quantities.

"A degree of difference is very hard to predict but it can make a big difference in our forecasts", underlines the young forecaster who, that day, successfully managed to inform his subscribers in real time.

Just like during the massive arrival of dust from the Sahara, which had given rise to an almost apocalyptic landscape at the beginning of February in Lyon.

An episode little anticipated by the classic weather websites provided with clarity and reliability by the Brondillant, who advised two days before the sandy rains not to wash your car!

Thanks to his experience and social networks, Romain Weber has been able to gain the trust of his customers and convince municipalities to call on him.

This is particularly the case with the town halls of Mions, to the south of Lyon, and of Écully, to the west, where the young entrepreneur will soon install stations to improve the reliability of forecasts on the territory.

And thus complete the information provided by the only station in the agglomeration, that of Météo France in Bron.

In Mions, another project is underway to improve irrigation management.

"It is a question of evaluating the loss of water on a plant surface according to the climatic conditions to know how much water to provide and when", indicates the young man.

The objective is to improve the use of water resources to fight against waste.

In 2021 and 2022, the forecaster will also participate in an experiment dedicated to the tiger mosquito.

It will be a question of assessing the influence of the weather on the evolution of this insect, very established in the region.

A mess of projects that should allow the young enthusiast to continue to rain and shine for a long time to come.

Planet

Auvergne Rhône-Alpes: Desert dust pollution now over is not so exceptional

Paris

Pollution in Ile-de-France: An Airparif forecaster warns of "a persistence situation"

  • Environment

  • Snow

  • Weather

  • Weather forecast

  • Lyon

  • Weather forecast

  • Planet