Precipitation detection and communication system with connected vehicles

A system of a network vehicle for detecting a precipitation event, comprising:

• a windshield wiper;
• a position sensor arranged to provide information relating to the location of the network vehicle;
• a control system that includes a data storage unit and an electronic control unit;
• a communications unit that is communicated with the control system and that has a receiver by which information is received at a network vehicle and a transmitter by which information is transmitted from the network vehicle;
• and
• a backend portion of a cloud-based system, wherein the backend portion is configured to receive from the communications unit information relating to a precipitation event and to transmit a notification including information relating to the precipitation event to one or more network vehicles, wherein the precipitation event is one of multiple precipitation events, and each of the multiple precipitation events is associated with a particular geographic area in which each of the multiple precipitation events occurred, and wherein the one or more thresholds includes a threshold for a number of precipitation events in each particular geographic area, and wherein each geographic area is rated with regard to a likelihood of a precipitation event occurring in a future time period within a threshold time period from the current time.