AIR winter storm models are the only commercially available catastrophe models to incorporate advanced Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) technology.

NWP models use global environmental data, such as sea surface temperatures, wind speed and pressure, in conjunction with governing equations based on known physical laws, to model the evolution of circulation patterns in three-dimensional space. These data are used to define an initial snapshot of the atmosphere both at the surface and at multiple upper atmospheric layers. Because the motion of air depends on the pressure gradient, this initial pressure field generates a windfield.

The three-dimensional windfield is moved forward in time through the application of a set of partial differential equations governing fluid flow. They have, as their basis, the law of conservation of mass and energy.

Today, NWP is the core operational forecasting technology used by meteorologists who analyze the weather and climate at all major meteorological agencies, including NOAA, the UK Met Office, Metéo-France, Der Deutscher Wetterdienst, and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. These and other national agencies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the development and application of NWP models.

AIR, too, has invested heavily in this state-of-the-art technology. By combining global environmental data with sophisticated nonlinear mathematical techniques and the necessary computing power, AIR scientists produce more realistic storm simulations than have ever before been available.