Artificial intelligence system delivers a three-day forecast as accurate as previous two-day predictions
Google’s WeatherNext AI model is better than existing systems at forecasting cyclones, according to a paper published in Nature.
The AI-based technology gives an extra day of warning, providing a three-day forecast for hurricanes or typhoons that is as accurate as previous two-day predictions.
But this is just one AI tool transforming weather forecasting, part of a gradual shift that has been gaining momentum over the past year.
Numerical forecasting dates back more than a century to Weather Prediction By Numerical Process, a book by Lewis Fry Richardson, who was a pioneering Met Office mathematician. At that time, the calculations had to be carried out by hand. It took more than six weeks to generate a daily forecast, making the method impractical until the introduction of computers. Even with modern supercomputers, processing power can still be a limiting factor.
