21 Comments
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Ken Fabian's avatar

Weather forecasting is also increasingly important to managing electricity grids and anticipating near term generation (and storage) requirements. As more renewable energy is added it will become even more significant.

Ruth Moloney's avatar

Google AI did a great job of tracking Hurricane Melissa which is currently wacking Jamaica after following a pretty erratic track. Those extra days warning make all the difference when you are on the ground. Unfortunately, it's a monster.

Rajiv Chopra's avatar

Which AI model is this one?

The Blue Marble's avatar

This is great news. As weather events become increasingly extreme due to climate change, it will be integral that communities have access to proper forecasting to prepare.

ToxSec's avatar

Agree. Great news for this space the tech should find more uses like this imo.

Fares Feghaly's avatar

Sounds promising, but the irony’s wild, training AI to predict a chaotic climate made worse by *checks notes* AI training

ToxSec's avatar

The irony isn’t lost on me either lol 😭

John Lovie's avatar

Prediction based on patterns in huge historical datasets is a great use for AI, and weather forecasting is a great example.

Some of the other potential uses are much less benign. Health insurance claim denials, expected voting behavior, etc. It depends who is paying for it and for whose benefit the modeling is done.

Matt Ball's avatar

But but but ... one time, the weather forecast said it was going to rain at my house and it didn't! Thus, everything you say is meaningless!

</sarcasm>

Thanks, as always, for focusing on what really matters, Hannah.

Dr Paul Dorfman's avatar

Paradoxes of irrationality - in that it's clear AI power demand will ramp climate weather impact.

Buzen's avatar

How so? The article says the AI reduced the amount of computing time and resources to make better forecasts, meaning it uses less energy than before.

shmuel yosef hazin's avatar

​"Most models overlook this, but the AIO (African Injection Oscillation) model shows that the stratosphere is the true 'creator' here. I've been tracking 70 hPa humidity levels, and the current data explains this extreme shift perfectly. It’s all about the stratospheric press. Follow my profile for the full research and charts."

Romain Jacob's avatar

Thanks Hannah for bringing up that perspective. I would have only wished a cautionary note that "AI != GenAI" I know you know, but for a naive reader, it easy to miss the nuance.

There are many different types of AI technologies, and the one developed for weather forecasting has nothing to do with the massive (and mad) build out triggered by the GenAI rush.

ToxSec's avatar

This looks like a fantastic use case for ai outside of the popular chatbot experience.

Pippa heggie's avatar

Is there a farming forecast in the same way as the shipping forecast happens every day?

Paul Magnall's avatar

Except in the United States, of course, where funding has been significant cut and jobs lost in weather data and analysis.

JBjb4321's avatar

I'll wait and see. Not the first time a big academic project says their seasonal forecasting could help farmers. Not much to show for all the money thus far. Throwing in the flavour of the year (AI) was a predictable move of course, let's see if it provides something useful.

Buzen's avatar

The article just described how it was useful to the farmers in India.

Anat's avatar

This is lovely ❤️

SUS it Out's avatar

Brilliant! Saving this