Weather Decision Support Systems, International

What Weather Decision Support Systems, International does

Weather Decision Support Systems, International (WDSS) is a Norman, Oklahoma-based provider of turnkey meteorological decision support systems serving international government weather service agencies, airport operators, and launch ranges/spaceports. Founded in 2017 as a spin-out from Weather Decision Technologies (WDT), the company is led by CEO and Certified Consulting Meteorologist Bill Conway and operates from within the National Weather Center campus alongside the University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology. WDSS delivers custom-built systems that combine proprietary algorithms with third-party meteorological instrumentation (radar wind profilers, microwave profiling radiometers, sodars, lidars, surface stations) unified through its VizAir processing and display platform.

The company's product portfolio comprises five core systems: the HydroMet Decision Support System (HDSS) for hydrometeorological forecasting including radar mosaics, QPE/QPF, storm tracking, and flash flood prediction; the Mesoscale Analysis & Prediction Support System (MAPSS), a turnkey WRF-based numerical weather prediction system with custom data assimilation and web-based GIS display; the Skycast Wind & Thermodynamic Profiling System (WTPS) for real-time vertical profiling and wind shear alerting at airports; the Lightning Decision Support System (LDSS), which integrates lightning detection network data to produce 60-minute forecasts and proximity alerts; and the Launch Weather Decision Support System (LWDSS), which provides comprehensive meteorological support for launch safety and mission scrub avoidance. A separate Certified Consulting Meteorologist legal-consulting practice provides weather reconstruction research and expert testimony for litigation.

WDSS generates revenue through one-time turnkey system sales, modernization and upgrade professional services, 24/7 managed meteorological forecast support, and CCM legal consulting. Customers include NASA (Cape Canaveral), ASECNA (five west African airports), Bahrain Civil Aviation Affairs, Abu Dhabi International Airport, PAGASA (Philippines), BMKG Indonesia (36-radar integration), and the City of Buenos Aires. Pricing is custom and not publicly disclosed, with all projects tailored to specific client requirements and delivered through direct enterprise sales supported by an exclusive affiliate network of instrumentation suppliers and international representatives.

Name

Weather Decision Support Systems, International

Legal name

Weather Decision Support Systems (WDSS) International

Website

https://wdss-intl.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

WDSS International designs and delivers turnkey meteorological decision support systems — integrating proprietary algorithms with wind profilers, radiometers, radars, and the VizAir platform — for international government weather agencies, airport operators, and launch ranges.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Meteorological Decision Support Systems

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Early Warning, Event Monitoring & Forecasting (Extreme Weather Alerts, Nowcasting) (EUABALAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Emergency Communications, Alerting & Public Warning Systems (HLAJAGAF)

Keywords

• Meteorological decision support
• Weather instrumentation systems
• Numerical weather prediction
• Aviation weather services
• Launch weather forecasting

Headquarters

HQ city

Norman

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Turnkey Meteorological System Sales: WDSS designs, architects, and delivers complete turnkey meteorological systems including hardware (radars, wind profilers, radiometers, sodars, lidars), software, displays, and integration services. Projects are custom solutions sold to government agencies and airport authorities. Revenue is generated through system sales and implementation contracts.
2. System Modernization and Upgrade Services: Provides modernization studies and upgrade services for existing meteorological facilities, helping agencies update and modernize their infrastructure with the latest state-of-the-science instrumentation and applications.
3. 24/7 Meteorological Forecast Support: For facilities without meteorological staff, WDSS provides 24/7 meteorological forecast support services as part of the LWDSS offering for launch ranges and spaceports.
4. Meteorological Legal Consulting: CEO and Certified Consulting Meteorologist (CCM) Bill Conway provides research, expert reports, and testimony for legal cases involving weather reconstruction, including hail, wind, flood, lightning, and winter weather events.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

WDSS designs, architects, and delivers turnkey meteorological decision support systems that integrate proprietary algorithms and display platforms with weather radars, wind profilers, radiometers, sodars, lidars, and surface stations. Its core software platforms — HDSS, MAPSS, WTPS, LDSS, LWDSS, and VizAir — provide real-time monitoring, nowcasting, and forecasting for government weather service agencies, airport authorities, and launch ranges/spaceports. The company also offers modernization studies, 24/7 forecast support, and meteorological expert consulting for legal matters.

Product overview

WDSS International is a meteorological decision support systems provider offering a portfolio of specialized products serving weather service agencies, airport agencies, and launch ranges/spaceports. The core product family includes HDSS (hydrometeorological decision support with radar integration, nowcasting, and NWP), MAPSS (mesoscale WRF-based forecasting), WTPS (wind and thermodynamic profiling for airports), LDSS (lightning detection and forecasting), and LWDSS (comprehensive launch weather decision support). Products combine proprietary algorithms with meteorological instrumentation (wind profilers, radiometers, sodars, radars) and integrate through display systems like VizAir. Services extend to legal consulting with Certified Consulting Meteorologist expert testimony. The company delivers turnkey solutions globally with over 30 years of combined meteorological and aviation experience.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• HydroMet Decision Support System (HDSS): A cutting-edge suite of meteorological algorithms, tools, and displays that integrates with existing systems to provide better informed decision making in both real-time and forecasting situations.
• Mesoscale Analysis & Prediction Support System (MAPSS)
• Skycast Wind & Thermodynamic Profiling System (WTPS)
• Lightning Decision Support System (LDSS)
• Launch Weather Decision Support Systems (LWDSS)

Products and services

• HydroMet Decision Support System (HDSS) A cutting-edge suite of meteorological algorithms, tools, and displays that integrates with existing systems to provide better informed decision making in both real-time and forecasting situations. Features radar data quality control, mosaics, storm tracking, rainfall estimation (QPE/QPF), flash flood prediction and alerts, NWP integration, and lightning nowcasting for government hydrometeorological agencies.
• Mesoscale Analysis & Prediction Support System (MAPSS) A complete operational mesoscale NWP turnkey system built upon the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model providing customized forecasts and assimilation of available local datasets. Includes PostWRF application for GRIB-2 format output, automated plotting, and web-based GIS high-resolution WRF display for government weather services.
• Skycast Wind & Thermodynamic Profiling System (WTPS) Profiling instrumentation, algorithms, and display system combining boundary layer Radar Wind Profiler (RWP), Microwave Profiling Radiometer (MPR), acoustic sodar (SODAR), lidar, and local surface station data integrated into the VizAir processing system. Provides real-time vertical profiles of winds, temperature, water vapor, and liquid water content updated every 5 minutes, with wind shear detection and alerting, fog/inversion nowcasting, and sounding indices for airport operations.
• Lightning Decision Support System (LDSS) A system integrating lightning detection network data with customer asset information to provide automatic alerts of lightning activity. LDSS algorithms produce 60-minute forecasts of lightning activity and intensity using lightning detection network data and gridded history fields, with automated proximity alerts for assets within user-defined distances.
• Launch Weather Decision Support Systems (LWDSS) Comprehensive system providing meteorological instrumentation and decision support tools for launch ranges and spaceports. Integrates real-time observational data with numerical modeling outputs to provide detections and forecasts of weather hazards associated with launch safety, including storms, surface and winds aloft, lightning activity, triggered lightning potential, and MaxQ values. Supports operations from several days prior to launch through T0 and recovery; 24/7 forecast support is offered to facilities without meteorological staff.
• Meteorological Consultation on Legal Matters Professional expert service provided by the WDSS CEO, a Certified Consulting Meteorologist (CCM), including weather reconstruction research, expert reports, and expert testimony for legal cases involving weather conditions such as hail, wind, flood, lightning, fog, and winter weather events, including fatality and property damage litigation.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 30 years of combined meteorological and aviation experience across the team
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability10 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• RadiometricscoreTechnology or IntegrationWDSS partners with Radiometrics to provide meteorological instrumentation, algorithms, and decision support to meteorological and non-meteorological operational decision makers at launch facilities including Cape Canaveral. Radiometrics provides instrumentation for the LWDSS system.
• Instrumentation Companies (Wind Profilers, Radiometers, Sodars, Lidars)coreTechnology or IntegrationWDSS partners with instrumentation companies to design and implement the SkyCast Wind and Thermodynamic Profiling System (WTPS) for airport, launch site, and spaceport operations. Instrumentation includes boundary layer Radar Wind Profilers (RWP), Microwave Profiling Radiometers (MPR), acoustic sodars (SODAR), and lidars.
• Exclusive Affiliate Network & International ProviderscoreTechnology or IntegrationWDSS has excellent relationships with many top suppliers of meteorological instrumentation, services, and expertise. The team brings together the companies that can deliver turn-key systems to address most any operational meteorological requirements. In-country representatives are available around the world.
• University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology / National Weather CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWDSS has access to University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology/National Weather Center faculty and senior technical staff if needed to provide expertise and support. WDSS is located at the NWC with deep roots in this community, providing access to technologies and talent.
• Association of Certified Meteorologists (ACM) NetworkminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWDSS is a member of the Association of Certified Meteorologists and has access to a network of Certified Consulting Meteorologists (CCM). If a legal case falls outside WDSS areas of expertise, they can find a suitable CCM through this network.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• DTN: DTN delivers operational weather data, forecasting, and decision-support platforms to aviation, agriculture, energy, and public-sector customers. It competes with WDSS in the broader aviation/operations weather intelligence layer, often pairing its own models with third-party instrumentation.
• Vaisala: Vaisala is the global leader in aviation and ground-based weather instrumentation (wind profilers, radiometers, lightning detection, ceilometers) and decision-support software. It directly competes with WDSS across airport and launch-range modernization contracts worldwide, often as prime or as a rival bidder on the same RFPs (e.g., ASECNA, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi).
• Earth Networks: Earth Networks operates the Sferic Maps and global lightning detection networks that feed WDSS's LDSS product. It also provides nowcasting, alerting, and weather decision-support tools to aviation, schools, and enterprises, making it both a data supplier and a competing decision-support vendor.
• Baron Weather: Baron provides radar mosaics, nowcasting, QPE/QPF, and hydrometeorological decision-support systems to weather services and broadcasters globally. Its Lynx display and Baron Radar platform overlap with WDSS's HDSS functionality in national-agency deployments such as the BMKG-style multi-radar integrations.
• Radiometrics: Radiometrics manufactures microwave profiling radiometers that WDSS integrates into WTPS and LWDSS deployments (Cape Canaveral, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi). As a hardware partner that also sells directly to aviation and research customers, it functions as both a co-bidder and adjacent competitor in profiling systems.
• Campbell Scientific: Campbell Scientific designs and manufactures data loggers, weather stations, and boundary-layer meteorological sensors used in airport and research networks. It competes with WDSS's WTPS instrumentation layer and is often part of competing turnkey bids for surface and profiling systems.

Emerging players

• Scintec: Scintec manufactures and supplies sodars, RASS, and wind profilers used in boundary-layer aviation and research networks. It is a niche OEM that overlaps with WDSS's WTPS sensor stack and occasionally competes as a turnkey supplier for airport profiling deployments.

Broad incumbents

• Leidos: Leidos holds large government weather, aviation, and science-systems contracts (e.g., NOAA support, FAA weather programs). It competes with WDSS at the systems-integration tier for multi-year US and international weather modernization programs and brings substantially larger program-management and balance-sheet capacity.
• IBM / The Weather Company: IBM's acquisition of The Weather Company brings deep industry datasets, AI-driven forecasting, and aviation decision-support tools to enterprise customers. It is a broad incumbent whose aviation and government offerings compete with WDSS for modernization RFPs, though it does not typically supply the same instrumentation layer.

Others

• Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) / Verisk: AER, now part of Verisk, provides atmospheric modeling, NWP consulting, and weather-risk analytics to government and commercial clients. It is an adjacent services peer that competes in the NWP modeling layer (MAPSS overlap) and in legal/forensic meteorology where WDSS's CCM practice also plays.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/wdssintl
• Facebookfacebook.com/wdssintl
• Instagraminstagram.com/wdssintl
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/weather-decision-support-systems-international

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Weather Decision Support Systems, International