Predicting cyclone paths & intensity 15 days ahead
Weather Lab by Google is an interactive site with experimental AI models for weather forecasting. It features a new cyclone model that predicts a storm's path and intensity up to 15 days ahead, now being used to support the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Summer is here, and so is the peak season for typhoons and hurricanes. We've used AI for weather forecasting for a long time, but with the recent leaps in foundation model capabilities, predictions are becoming not just more accurate, but can also be made much further out.
Google's new Weather Lab is a powerful example of this. Its experimental AI cyclone model can predict a storm's path and intensity up to 15 days in advance. That's two weeks – a game-changing amount of time for disaster preparedness. The potential to save lives and property with a more accurate forecast that far out is immense.
Seeing this kind of practical, life-saving application of AI, I'm starting to better understand what Sam recently meant when he spoke about human entering "The Gentle Singularity".
