Weather Web sites get sunny ratings from Floyd

As Hurricane Floyd tore through the eastern seaboard this week, popular weather Web sites witnessed a flood in traffic numbers.

The strong showing for these sites is yet another indication that people are turning

Hurricane Floyd and the Web
Date	Web site	Page Views
9/13	Weather.com Yahoo Weather MSNBC.com	3,159,689 1,020,707 1,726,196
9/14	Weather.com Yahoo Weather MSNBC.com NOAA.gov	4,435,573 1,118,275 2,259,065 1,861,290
9/15	Weather.com Yahoo Weather MSNBC.com NOAA.gov	6,852,248 1,264,626 3,718,827 1,677,412
9/16	Weather.com Yahoo Weather MSNBC.com NOAA.gov	3,966,498 1,110,770 3,951,488 788,046
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings Overnight Analysis, September 1999

to the Web for immediate information when breaking events and catastrophes occur, according to a study conducted by online audience measurement firm Nielsen/NetRatings.

Top weather sites including Weather.com, Yahoo Weather, MSNBC, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Web site showed dramatic surges in Net users, according to Nielsen/NetRatings' special report. This was especially the case Wednesday, when Floyd threatened to move closer to shore.

The study added that major events, such as natural catastrophes and large sporting events, often result in traffic spikes for Web sites. During these events, not only does traffic increase, but the time a user remains at a single site also increases, as does the overall number of page views.

Weather.com was the big winner for Floyd coverage, with its traffic jumping from 2.3 percent of all Web users September 13 to 3.6 percent of all users September 15.