Climate Change

Scientists have used a powerful new AI tool developed by Google DeepMind to forecast the trajectory and growth of Hurricane Melissa. The model was able to predict as early as 21 October that there was a 50-60% chance the storm would reach Category 5, long before Melissa’s strength was obvious. Two days later, the model bumped the probability up to 80% or higher. And the next day, US National Hurricane Center forecasters cited the model when they reported “a distinct possibility that Melissa could become a Category 5 hurricane”. Google DeepMind researchers trained their model on global weather observations, including 5,000 cyclones from the past 45 years.