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Climate|A.I. Is Poised to Revolutionize Weather Forecasting. A New Tool Shows Promise.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/climate/ai-weather-models-aurora-microsoft.html
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A Microsoft model can make accurate 10-day forecasts quickly, an analysis found. And, it’s designed to predict more than weather.
May 21, 2025, 12:32 p.m. ET
Weather forecasters rely on models to help them make decisions that can have life-or-death consequences, so any advantage is welcome. Artificial intelligence holds promise to deliver more accurate forecasts quickly, and tech companies including Google, Nvidia and Huawei have produced A.I.-based forecasting models.
The latest entrant is Aurora, an A.I. weather model from Microsoft, and it stands out for several reasons, according to a report published Wednesday in the journal Nature. It’s already in use at one of Europe’s largest weather centers, where it’s running alongside other traditional and A.I.-based models.
The Aurora model can make accurate 10-day forecasts at smaller scales than many other models, the paper reports.
And it was built to handle not only weather, but also any Earth system with data available. That means it can be trained, relatively easily, to forecast things like air pollution and wave height in addition to weather events like tropical cyclones. Users could add almost any system they like down the road; for instance, one start-up has already honed the model to predict renewable energy markets.
“I’m most excited to see the adoption of this model as a blueprint that can add more Earth systems to the prediction pipeline,” said Paris Perdikaris, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who led the development of Aurora while working at Microsoft.
It’s also fast, able to return results in seconds as opposed to the hours that non-A.I. models can take.
