In some parts of the world it is difficult to predict the weather even just a few hours ahead. Yet Planalytics, a business weather intelligence company, knows what the weather is going to be 11 months from now.

“I was quite cynical of that at first,” says Ms Nott, customer services manager for the company. “How can you predict the weather 11 months in advance? We do have a disclaimer that we’re measured on 75 per cent accuracy, but our forecasts are now delivering information on 2010.”