Met Office supercomputer gives 14-day weather forecast more accurate than ever
Met Office supercomputer gives 14-day weather forecast more accurate than ever
The new system can perform 60 quadrillion calculations per second, and was launched on Monday
The latest weather maps for the early hours of Sunday morning (May 25) show the majority of Wales covered with a band of heavy rain
(Image: Met Office )
Better weather forecasts are on the way, the Met Office says, thanks to its new 'supercomputer', which will detail estimates up to two weeks in advance. The new system can perform 60 quadrillion calculations per second, and was launched on Monday.
It is expected to make rainfall predictions more accurate, and has been described as "the world's first cloud-based supercomputer dedicated to weather and climate science."
It will be the first the Met Office will not be running itself, as it will be operated by Microsoft's Azure. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here .
Azure cloud computing service is one of the largest providers of data centres in the world.
Met Office's science director, Professor Simon Vosper, said: "There's never been a more critical time for weather and climate intelligence.
"We know the climate's changing, as we know the risks of hazardous weather.
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"The supercomputer will unlock our ability to deliver those improved services where they're needed."
Among its benefits, the technology, powered by renewable energy, is expected to improve forecasts at airports.
And it will also improve predictions around ongoing challenges caused by climate change, such as flooding and wildfires.
The new technology can perform more than four times the number of calculations per second than its predecessor, containing 1.8m core processors.
It is physically located in the south of England and is split across two data centres.
Charles Ewen is the Met Office's chief information officer.
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He said: "I'm very confident the Met Office is best placed in the world to be able to accommodate at scale emerging methods and techniques such as artificial intelligence."
You can read the Met Office's forecast for Wales from Wednesday into Sunday by clicking here.
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