Synoptic Data, A Public Benefit

Synoptic has its origins in the University of Utah’s MesoWest program, which began providing North American weather information in the mid-1990s and has successfully served tens of thousands of users in the government, industry, research, and education sectors. Synoptic was initiated to build on the MesoWest foundation, apply new resources, expand its technological capabilities, and implement a self-sustaining business model. Over the last several years, Synoptic and MesoWest have carried out a deliberate and step-wise process to implement this vision, including a closely managed transition to cloud computing resources and the use of the Synoptic Labs name as an interim step. Over the course of 2018, as Synoptic grew into its role as a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) and matured its offerings, it was able to fully absorb the functions and mission of Synoptic Labs, which was incrementally retired over that same period. As a PBC, Synoptic remains committed to supporting research, education, and exploratory usage by all types of users, largely at no cost to those users. Synoptic continues to bring on new data providers, data types, and data locations. We are improving and expanding our data and our capabilities to serve that data, and are looking forward to an exciting year and many years to come!