Weather forecasting is getting cheaper and more accurate. An AI model named Aurora used machine learning to outperform current weather prediction systems, researchers report May 21 in Nature. Aurora could accurately predict tropical cyclone paths, air pollution and ocean waves, as well as global weather at the scale of towns or cities — offering up forecasts in a matter of seconds. The fact that Aurora can make such high-resolution predictions using machine learning impressed Peter Dueben, who heads the Earth system modeling group at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in Bonn, Germany. “I think they have been the first to push that limit,” he says. As climate change worsens, extreme weather strikes more often. “In a changing climate, the stakes for accurate Earth systems prediction could not be higher,” says study coauthor Paris Perdikaris, an engineer at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. And in recent months, the U.S. government has cut funding and fired staff at the National Weather Service, making it more difficult for this agency to get important warnings out in time.

Full report : Aurora AI based tool can be tweaked to predict air pollution, ocean waves, tropical cyclones and more.