Powering Preparedness: How San Diego Gas & Electric Leverages StormGeo to Tackle Wildfire Risk and Strengthen Grid Resilience

In the fire-prone landscapes of Southern California, utilities face intense and unrelenting weather-related challenges. Tasked with safeguarding millions of customers across a diverse landscape, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has long recognized that traditional weather monitoring tools were no longer sufficient to meet the scale and urgency of wildfire threats. Enter StormGeo—whose collaboration with SDG&E has redefined how the utility approaches weather intelligence, real-time forecasting, and operational decision-making.

From Fragmented Data to a Unified, Actionable View

Prior to partnering with StormGeo, SDG&E’s meteorology team faced a considerable hurdle: a fragmented view of critical weather data. Monitoring wildfire conditions or lightning activity meant visiting multiple, disconnected platforms, piecing together insights manually to form a common operating picture. This not only placed a significant strain on resources but also risked critical delays during fast-evolving situations.

“Before StormGeo, our team had to navigate a web of disparate sources to maintain situational awareness,” said Chris Arends, Meteorology Program Manager at SDG&E. “Now, everything we need is centralized on one viewer. It’s streamlined, faster, and far more actionable.”

From Static Forecasts to Dynamic, Real-Time Alerts

The transition to StormGeo’s weather platform marked a pivotal shift. During the late-summer and fall monsoon season, thunderstorms can erupt rapidly across the mountainous regions of San Diego County. Through the StormGeo platform, SDG&E meteorologists now monitor real-time radar, lightning strike proximity, thunderstorm alerts, and storm tracks—all layered in a unified interface.

This capability has transformed the team’s ability to stay ahead of dangerous conditions, enabling quicker interventions that help protect infrastructure and personnel.

“StormGeo’s tools allow us to track thunderstorms before they become a problem,” said Arends. “The combination of radar, lightning proximity alerts, polygons, and storm tracking gives us real-time situational awareness when seconds matter.”

Mitigating Wildfire Risk—One Wind Gust at a Time

One of SDG&E’s greatest concerns during wildfire season is the sudden onset of powerful, terrain-driven wind gusts. These conditions often precede Public Safety Power Shut-Offs (PSPS), where electricity is proactively de-energized to prevent ignitions from downed lines or debris. The StormGeo-developed weather site tracks data from more than 200 weather stations—updated every 10 minutes—allowing SDG&E to monitor wind speed, gusts, humidity, and temperature in near real-time.

This increased granularity enables the utility to detect and respond to dangerous patterns with greater accuracy and confidence. More importantly, it provides executive leadership with the critical data needed to initiate shut-off protocols, communicate with customers, and coordinate with emergency services.

“Rapid changes in wind gusts are the greatest threat to our system during red flag warnings,” Arends explained. “StormGeo’s customized weather platform gives us the precision and frequency we need to stay ahead of those threats and allows our leadership to make appropriate data-driven decisions.”

Integrating Intelligence into Every Operation

StormGeo’s weather intelligence has not only improved decision-making but also enhanced operational coordination and communication. Observation data from StormGeo feeds directly into SDG&E’s PSPS dashboard—a comprehensive status board that visualizes areas trending toward hazardous wind conditions. Forecasters receive dangerous thunderstorm alerts and polygon tracks, which are shared immediately via text messages or through the SDG&E weather app, ensuring timely notification across the workforce.

In wildfire forecasting, the platform also taps into machine learning models that project four-day outlooks for critical transmission and distribution infrastructure. These forecasts are benchmarked against historical percentile data, helping meteorologists assess whether upcoming wind events will cross the danger threshold.

A Long-term Partnership

SDG&E’s collaboration with StormGeo dates back to 2008—long before the utility had a dedicated Wildfire and Climate Resilience Center. Over the years, the relationship has evolved from basic dashboard creation to a deeply integrated data and forecasting ecosystem that supports every layer of SDG&E’s operations.

“We’ve worked closely with SDG&E to build what they need, when they need it,” said Bob Weinzapfel, Senior Product Manager and Meteorologist at StormGeo. “From weather station dashboards and wind speed forecasts to mobile apps and internal data pipelines, our platform is at the heart of their situational awareness tools.”

This spirit of co-innovation continues today. Regular meetings between StormGeo and SDG&E ensure the platform is constantly refined—whether that means incorporating new datasets, adjusting models, or scaling the system to meet the challenges of a changing climate.

Setting a Standard for Utilities Nationwide and Beyond

StormGeo’s partnership with SDG&E is not just a local success story—it’s a model for utilities across the country – and beyond. As climate change increases the frequency and severity of wildfires in regions previously unaffected, StormGeo is already working to adapt its proven tools for broader deployment across the United States.

“No utility is immune from wildfire risk anymore,” Weinzapfel noted. “The systems we’ve built with SDG&E can help others develop the same proactive, intelligence-driven approach to protecting infrastructure and communities.”