AI-powered weather forecasts across Africa
28 March 2025
AI & ML
Research teams at Google have been working on AI powered nowcasting for years, helping users understand exactly when and where they should expect precipitation over the next few hours. Now, these short-term precipitation forecasts are being made available across Africa, for the first time. The forecasts are made possible through advancements in Google Research’s AI-powered nowcasting model, MetNet, which uses satellite data and ground observations to produce state-of-the-art precipitation forecasts in data-sparse regions of the world. Google’s technology can predict global precipitation with high accuracy within a 5 km radius every 15 minutes for the next 12 hours – all under one minute.
Solving the problem of sparse ground observations
One critical component for weather forecasts is dense ground radar, which is not available for the majority of the world where billions of people live. The need for new approaches and better weather forecasts is especially pronounced in Africa, where ground observations are limited, and global weather models tend to exhibit low skill. For example, North America has 291 radar facilities to track weather, while Africa has 37.
To scale nowcasting globally, the research teams came up with an innovative new approach using globally available satellite observations in our nowcasting models.
Using AI and satellite observations, the model was able to fill in the gaps, even in areas where radar was unavailable, overcoming previous limitations in data sparse regions. It is also the first model to directly incorporate observations from a multitude of satellites.
Nowcasting on Google Search is now live for users in Africa. The feature will display for weather searches across the continent with more precision than ever before. Accurate weather forecasts are one example of how AI is helping to solve real-world challenges.
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