The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Arab Emirates’ National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) opened a three-day conference this week to examine how artificial intelligence (AI) can improve weather and climate services.
The event, held from September 9 to 11 at NCM headquarters in Abu Dhabi, gathers more than 50 international experts from meteorological agencies, academia, and the private sector, including Google, IBM, Microsoft and Nvidia.
WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett said integrating AI into forecasting and early warning systems is crucial. “Lives depend on it,” she said. WMO President Abdulla Al Mandous added that AI-driven forecasts are expanding rapidly through collaboration among governments, researchers and industry.
WMO is already piloting AI applications for flood forecasting in Nigeria, Vietnam, Uruguay and the Czech Republic, and supporting regional climate centers in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
The conference will conclude with a joint statement urging stronger collaboration between industry and governments on AI models and tools for weather, climate and environmental services, ahead of the WMO Extraordinary Congress in October.
