MET OFFICE
106 this to predicting a coin toss . Based on averages or statistics , you could contend that it ’ s a 50 / 50 chance that it will be either heads or tails , whereas the Met Office is trying accurately to simulate what side the coin will land on . “ A statistical approach to weather forecasting doesn ' t give you the infor – mation you need because you want to know about anomalies , you want to know about extreme weather and you want to know about intensity . You don ' t want to know about averages . Essentially that is what the climate analysis tells you but a weather forecast is about the specifics of a given time and place .”
For many citizens , the weather fore – cast informs many day-to-day decisions like whether they should cut the grass tomorrow , what they should wear or how they should travel . It ’ s also vital for industries , allowing them to mitigate safety risks like preventing people from working outdoors in hazardous cond – itions . Emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) offer the potential to take one step further . “ I can be somewhat unpopular at work when I say that few people actually want a weather forecast ,” Ewen says “ more frequently , people or increas-
“The supercomputer contributes an awful lot because you can run models at finer resolutions with a lot more complexity ”
— Charles Ewen , Chief Information Officer , Met Office
JANUARY 2019