As extreme weather events grow more frequent and severe, meteorologists are turning to artificial intelligence to improve forecasting. They say AI could better warn of potentially deadly disasters, before they strike.

Seoul

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

Rise of AI

South Korea has experienced a rise in extreme weather events, such as flooding and landslides, making traditional forecasting methods less effective. In response, the national Weather Bureau and private sector companies are adopting AI technology to improve the accuracy and timeliness of weather predictions. AI platforms can now provide hyper-local forecasts, benefiting industries, farmers, and individuals.

However, experts note that AI faces difficulties in predicting unprecedented weather events, as such occurrences are not present in historical datasets. Efforts are underway to collect recent data from extreme events to better train AI models, potentially leading to more effective disaster prevention and smarter energy use. Publicly available platforms like Google's Flood Hub are already aiding in these efforts.

AI technology used to forecast extreme weather in South Korea

recent flooding and landslides in South Korea, where meteorologists are struggling to predict increasingly extreme weather using traditional methods. An event that used to occur once every 50 years might now occur once every 10 years. These changes are problems that arise due to climate change, and such changes are difficult to predict. The Weather Bureau is now using AI to improve forecasting. But even bigger advances are being driven by private sector companies, assisting heavy industry, farmers and the government with disaster prevention. In the case of raincast, what is needed is nowcast, predicting weather in a very short period of about six hours to within one day. Existing numerical models have limitations in predicting over such a short period. This startup has developed an AI platform that deals with areas as small as a single house. By using our devices, farmers as well as individuals who keep personal gardens can use them to know the weather right in front of their homes. But big challenges remain. Due to climate change, extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and intensity. However, such events are not present in past datasets. If something does not exist in a dataset, AI cannot learn from it. Therefore, when it comes to predicting changes in frequency or intensity of extreme weather, AI face serious difficulties. Difficulties that are not impossible to overcome. If the recent data from such events are well collected and used for specialized training, it is possible to develop AI models tailored to those unusual phenomena. Which could mean better prediction and prevention of weather-related disasters, saving lives and property. I think meteorology is one of the fields where the development of AI is most helpful. AI-powered platforms like Google's Flood Hub are already widely used by the public. Experts say new technology could also help fight climate change by promoting smarter energy use and making renewable energy like wind and solar power more reliable and as a consequence, more widely adopted. Jack Barton, Al Jazeera, Solve.

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Washington

U.S. to send F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico amid Venezuela tensions

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Beijing

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Caracas

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Jerusalem

Middle East Conflict

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Quito

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Paris

Ukraine Invasion

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Lisbon

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Tel Aviv-Yafo

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Los Angeles

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Brussels

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A powerful 6.0 magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed at least 1,400 people, according to the Afghan Red Crescent Society. Thousands more were  injured.

AI technology used to forecast extreme weather in South Korea

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Rise of AI