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Forecaster provides real-time weather data to boost extreme weather warnings

The top European weather forecaster announced on Wednesday that it has opened up access to real-time weather data, which will help support early warning systems around the world for extreme weather.

Climate change is causing more intense and frequent weather events, such as heatwaves, floods, and storms. Access to high-quality data is essential to understanding and managing the risks.

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts is backed by 35 countries, mostly European, who collect 800 million observations per day to predict the weather. It also oversees one the largest meteorological archives in the world.

The centre's data policy leader said that as part of the regional push by certain European countries to move towards open data, it will provide 16 times more data unrestrictedly than at present, but charge data service fees for users who download large amounts.

As the world prepares for the next round in Brazil, in November, developing countries must continue to focus on adapting to extreme climate conditions and providing data to those who are most affected so that they can be better prepared.

In this context, the centre announced that it would waive some service fees for early warning forecasting to members of the World Meteorological Organization. It would also look at how AI forecasts can assist developing countries who have less access to national data and processing.

"If you have this disruptive technology, there's always the danger that countries that are less well-resourced get left behind," Florian Pappenberger, the director-general-elect for the centre, said.

We're aware of the fact that accessing machine-learning forecasts can be difficult in many parts of the world. Reporting by Ali Withers, Editing by Alison Williams

(source: Reuters)