Machine learning and its radical application to severe weather prediction

In the last decade, artificial intelligence ("AI") applications have exploded across various research sectors, including computer vision, communications and medicine. Now, the rapidly developing technology is making its mark in weather prediction. The fields of atmospheric science and satellite meteorology are ideally suited for the task, offering a rich training ground capable of feeding an AI system's endless appetite for data. Anthony Wimmers is a scientist with the University of Wisconsin–Madison Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) who has been working with AI systems for the last three years. His latest research investigates how an AI model can help improve short-term forecasting (or "nowcasting") of hurricanes. Known as DeepMicroNet, the model uses deep learning, a type of neural network arranged in "deep" interacting layers that finds patterns within a dataset.