Achievement leveraged an approach powered by satellite data and supercharged with AI/ML resulting in best-in-class precipitation accuracy from 0-6 hours for high-impact weather events.
Boston, May, 10 2023 – Tomorrow.io, the world’s leading weather intelligence and climate adaptation platform, has released a new Unified Precipitation (UP) solution that leverages state-of-the-art satellite data and machine learning to provide real-time and nowcast (0-6 hours) global precipitation with unparalleled accuracy. Developed by Tomorrow.io’s R&D team, the solution is set to provide users with 48-61% better precipitation intensity accuracy and, depending on region, a 39-49% improvement in precipitation detection compared to similar publicly-available satellite-based products, such as the Global Hydro-Estimator, based on direct comparison with radar data from NASA/JAXA’s Global Precipitation Measurement satellite. The accuracy of accumulated precipitation is on par with or better than microwave-based products with 2-4 hour latency such as CMORPH/IMERG, based on comparisons with the NOAA Multi-Radar, Multi-Sensor precipitation analysis over the continental United States. Tomorrow.io’s solution went live on April 27.
The Unified Precipitation solution is powered by Tomorrow.io’s proprietary technology and supercharged with AI/ML. “We are ingesting data from five geostationary satellites, including GOES-16/18, Himawari-9, and METEOSAT-9/10, to produce a global product with less than 15-minute latency”, said Joe Munchak, Principal Atmospheric Data Scientist at Tomorrow.io, adding “In addition to traditional inputs, it leverages multi-channel satellite data and applies machine learning to relate cloud patterns and structure to the underlying precipitation. What is now a multi-sensor precipitation product renders benefits to users in regions both with and without radar coverage.” The result is a dramatic improvement to accuracy and detection statistics worldwide, significantly reducing weather misses related to the non-detection of precipitation.”
With significantly more precipitation being accurately detected, particularly outside of radar coverage, users will benefit from more realistic short range precipitation forecasts as Tomorrow.io is able to provide users with high-impact weather event precipitation accuracy from 0-6 hours to better predict rapidly evolving storms traditional models miss. The company also plans to continue to grow the amount of surface-based radar data along with the data coming from its satellite radar and sounder constellation infused with the Unified Precipitation solution to provide the most complete precipitation data mapping on a global scale.
Hear more from our Atmospheric Data Team Manager John L’Heureux:
