AI Used in Determining Forecast

I’ve had such a large number of reader suggested topics that I have to empty the inbox.

The first topic is suggested by Shiloh, a third grader at Hermes, and he asked what causes clouds to become grey. Well, clouds become grey because there are particles or water in the cloud that block the light from coming through. Now the particles could be dirt or dust or just water in the cloud that makes the cloud denser and thicker which builds up to a point that the cloud cannot support the weight of all those particles in the cloud and then it lets go and comes down as rain.

The next question comes from Kent, he asks if artificial intelligence (AI) is being used for weather forecasting. As a matter of fact, AI is being used all the time in meteorology. In forecasting, the more data the better, and that is something AI can do much better than humans. You can especially see that on the spaghetti models for hurricanes, where most of those models are created by AI running hundreds of thousands of simulations on a storm with one variable changed. Then it is all averaged up into one line of that model. This is done for almost every line on that model. So to answer your question, yes AI is being used in meteorology to great success.

The final question today comes from Kay, she asks if the solstices have an effect on the weather. For a quick refresher, the solstices are the longest and shortest days of the year. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year and the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year and therefore the most sunlight is on the northern hemisphere. But it does not have a noticeable effect on the weather, being just one day long, and the same is true about the winter solstice where the effect is negligible.

On another note I am now back at college and need your suggestions or questions more than ever to keep making these articles. You can contact the paper and I will get those messages forwarded to me or you can contact me directly with this email address tomy3290@gmail.com.

Now onto the local weather. Some fantastic news on Wednesday the first cold front of the year will be here with a high of 85 degrees and Thursday as well with a cool 90 degrees to end out the week. Coming with the cold front is rain on Wednesday and Thursday with an 80% chance of showers. There are no astrological events of note this week.