IBM announces high-resolution model for global weather forecasting
WHEN IBM bought the Weather Company in 2016, it wasn’t clear what the long-term plan was for the acquisition, or how IBM would leverage the company’s specialties - dozens of forecasters, tens of thousands of personal weather stations and a website that drew millions of people to stories with headlines such as “You won’t believe what divers found in this underwater cave.”
This week, IBM parted the clouds on why it got into the weather business. Chief executive Ginni Rometty announced at the Consumer Technology Association’s CES conference that IBM will launch a forecast model this year, combining the trove of meteorological data from the Weather Company with the tech giant’s supercomputing power.
Given IBM’s technology prowess and the Weather Company’s data, the model could boast the best short-term forecasts in the world. That’s what Peter Neilley is banking on, at least.
Neilley, IBM’s senior vice president for global forecasting, said in an email that the model “will be the most accurate source of short term (1-12 hours ahead) weather forecasts in places of the world” that are underserved by state-of-the-art weather modelling today.
Places such as South America and Africa, where a dearth of weather observations makes it all but impossible to generate accurate forecasts.
“I think it’s wonderful. Absolutely wonderful,” said Betsy Weatherhead, a senior scientist at the University of Colorado. IBM has “the capability that others don’t have,” she said, and “they’re bringing the best minds together.” — Washington Post.