|
Background
Index calculation procedures
RMS Region definitions
Background
RMS introduced the RMS Regional Weather Indexes to provide the
weather market with a new benchmark for tracking and managing
weather risk.
Previously, there was no convenient source of up-to-date information
on weather behavior throughout the main winter and summer trading
periods. The RMS indexes provide market participants and other
interested parties a unique resource for easily tracking how weather
in 10 regions of the U.S. is progressing relative to average
conditions.
The RMS Regional Weather Indexes also give weather traders a new
basis for structuring weather transactions. With index values
derived from a basket of 10 weather stations in each region, the
indexes eliminate almost all of the exposure to weather station
movements or instrumentation changes that is a common risk in
single-station transactions. In addition to reducing this station
risk, another attractive feature of the indexes is their rapid
settlement. RMS uses the RMS/EarthSat daily cleaned data for all of
the underlying weather stations to calculate final index settlement
values within hours of the end of a risk period.
Index values based on both degree days and average temperature can
be freely viewed on RMS’ weather risk website, climetrix.com. All
index values are updated daily, and historical values from past
years are provided alongside current data for comparison.
Index calculation procedures
RMS tracks indexes for the two main seasons of the year: winter and
summer. Winter indexes are calculated from November 1 through March
31, and summer indexes are calculated from May 1 through September
30. The final results for each set of seasonal indexes are displayed
on the www.climetrix.com site for the “shoulder” month following
completion of each season. In the future, RMS will also publish
individual monthly index values for the same regions.
For each region, RMS calculates index values based on both degree
days (Heating Degree Days in the winter and Cooling Degree Days in
the summer) and average temperature.
Each regional index value is calculated as the sum across each of
the region’s 10 underlying stations of one-tenth of the relevant
index value at that station. The degree day indexes are computed as
cumulative values over the season, and the average temperature
indexes are computed as running averages over the length of the
season.
The data used to compute the index values are the average daily
temperature values contained in the daily feed of cleaned prior-day
data developed by RMS and EarthSat. This daily cleaned data is
widely used throughout the weather market as the basis for marking
positions; its use for index calculations provides consistency with
weather market conventions and ensures reliability of final index
values.
Index values are automatically computed overnight using the cleaned
prior-day data, and updated index values are posted on the
www.climetrix.com website each morning. Final index values for the
November-March winter season are posted on April 1, and final index
values for the May-September summer season are posted on October 1.
RMS Region definitions
The RMS Regions were defined based on analyses of regional
meteorological patterns, predominant weather trading regions,
population distribution, and correlations between individual weather
stations and regions throughout the U.S.
Each regional index is based on recordings taken from 10 first-order
National Weather Service stations. The 10 underlying stations were
selected by RMS to include many of the most actively-traded stations
in the weather market as well as stations that are most
representative of regional meteorology and population distribution.
No station is used for more than one region.
The specific weather stations used to calculate index values are
listed below for each RMS Region:
Mid-Atlantic
Atlantic City International Airport
Baltimore Baltimore-Washington International Airport
Charleston Yeager Airport
Newark International Airport
Philadelphia International Airport
Pittsburgh International Airport
Richmond International Airport
Roanoke Regional Airport
Washington DC Dulles International Airport
Williamsport Regional Airport
Midwest
Chicago O'Hare International Airport
Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport
Columbus Port Columbus International Airport
Detroit Metropolitan Airport
Grand Rapids Gerald R Ford International
Indianapolis International Airport
Louisville Standiford Field
Madison Dane County Regional Airport
Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport
Peoria Greater Peoria Airport
Mountain States
Boise Air Terminal
Casper Natrona County International Airport
Cheyenne Municipal Airport
Colorado Springs Municipal Airport
Grand Junction Walker Field
Pocatello Regional Airport
Pueblo Memorial Airport
Reno Tahoe International Airport
Salt Lake City International Airport
Winnemucca Municipal Airport
Northeast
Albany County Airport
Boston Logan International Airport
Burlington International Airport
Concord Municipal Airport
Hartford Bradley International Airport
New York Central Park
New York J F Kennedy International Airport
Portland International Jetport
Providence T. F. Green State Airport
Rochester Greater Rochester International Airport
Northern Plains
Billings Logan International Airport
Bismarck Municipal Airport
Duluth International Airport
Fargo Hector International Airport
Helena Regional Airport
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
Missoula International Airport
Rapid City Regional Airport
Rochester International Airport
Sioux Falls Foss Field
Pacific Northwest
Eugene Mahlon Sweet Airport
Lewiston Nez Perce County Airport
Medford Rogue Valley International Airport
Olympia Airport
Pendleton East Oregon Regional Airport
Portland International Airport
Salem McNary Field
Seattle Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
Spokane International Airport
Yakima Air Terminal
Plains
Columbia Regional Airport
Des Moines International Airport
Dodge City Regional Airport
Dubuque Regional Airport
North Platte Regional Airport
Omaha Eppley Airfield
Springfield Capital Airport
St. Louis Lambert International Airport
Topeka Municipal Airport
Wichita Mid-Continent Airport
South Central
Baton Rouge Ryan Airport
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport
Little Rock Adams Field
Lubbock International Airport
New Orleans International Airport
Oklahoma City Will Rogers World Airport
San Antonio International Airport
Shreveport Regional Airport
Tulsa International Airport
Southeast
Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport
Birmingham Municipal Airport
Charleston International Airport
Charlotte Douglas International Airport
Jackson International Airport
Miami International Airport
Mobile Regional Airport
Nashville International Airport
Raleigh Durham International Airport
Tampa International Airport
Southwest
Albuquerque International Airport
Bakersfield Meadows Field
Fresno Yosemite International Airport
Las Vegas McCarran International Airport
Long Beach Daugherty Field
Los Angeles Downtown USC Campus
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Sacramento Executive Airport
Tucson International Airport
Winslow Municipal Airport
|
