CHICAGO — A personalized forecaster named Poncho made an entry into the Chicago market on Tuesday, delivering the day's weather through the voice of a sassy hoodie-clad cat that, if it were to actually exist, would live in Wicker Park.
"We picture Poncho living in Wicker Park. Poncho's New York City counterpart is based in Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood," said founder Kuan Huang, who developed the Internet-based Poncho while participating in a hacker-in-residence program at Betaworks, a start-up studio.
Since launching in New York City last April, hundreds of thousands of subscribers have been won over by Poncho's ability to deliver timely weather reports that are not only accurate, but useful and humorous too, according to a news release.
Poncho’s proprietary technology platform is powered by forecast.io, a hyperlocal weather predictor that aggregates radar data to provide forecasts.
On Tuesday morning, for instance, in the 60622 ZIP code, Poncho predicted showers all day with temps in the mid 60s, a low pollen count and a frizzy hair day.
Huang grew up in China and said that when he was in college his mom was his main weather source because she knew his routines.
"She would give me very actionable information, like bring an umbrella, put on a scarf, or bundle up — it's cold. I wondered, What if there is a weather service that understands your daily routine and pushes weather forecasts to you when you need to know?" Huang said.
In that spirit, Poncho delivers similar advice based on a form that users fill out when they sign up, which asks questions about daily habits and lifestyle, like what time they wake up, how they commute to work, whether they have pollen allergies, or even concerns about the weather affecting their hair.
When asked if Poncho will eventually charge users for the service, Huang said Poncho will remain free, but there is "an opportunity in weather-related advertising."
In March, Poncho partnered with Walgreens to offer coupons for over-the-counter allergy medications during high pollen season. Over the summer, Poncho partnered with GE on an iPhone-controlled air conditioner, Quirky.
The allergy medication ads were only targeted to users that were already signed up to receive the pollen count information as part of their personalized forecast. The air conditioner ads were targeted to ZIP codes where the weather was over 75 degrees and 70 percent humidity, Huang said.
Though Poncho's staff of seven employees including Huang are based in New York City, Huang said he recently brought on two Chicago editors to personalize the daily forecasts to the 1,000 Chicago users who have already signed up for the service.
For those interested in learning more, Huang said Poncho representatives will be at The Wormhole, a coffee shop at 1462 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Wicker Park on Thursday to answer questions and give out free swag such as bright yellow umbrellas emblazoned with the Poncho logo.
Follow Poncho on Twitter at @poncho_chi.
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