After a year of deadly weather, cities look to private forecasters to save lives

Last week, Hoboken, N.J. became the latest American city to hire a private company to provide the weather forecasting needed to guide life-saving disaster management work. Until now, Hoboken, like much of the country, mainly got its guidance on extreme weather from the National Weather Service, a federal agency.

Hoboken is following in New York City's footsteps, which also announced a similar move in September. The cities' decisions are a response to the flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, which killed 50 people in New Jersey and in New York, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the flooding was a wakeup call.

"What we're realizing now is, even with the information we get from the National Weather