Future Timeline

Details of the findings were published in leading science journal Nature.

A new artificial intelligence-based weather model can deliver 15-day forecasts with unrivaled accuracy and speed, a Google lab said, with potentially life-saving applications as climate change ramps up.

GenCast, invented by London-based AI research laboratory Google DeepMind, "showed better forecasting skill" than the current world-leading model, the company said Wednesday.

The European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) produces predictions for 35 countries and is considered the global benchmark for meteorological accuracy.

But DeepMind said GenCast surpassed the precision of the center's forecasts in more than 97 percent of the 1,320 real-world scenarios from 2019 which they were both tested on.

Details of its findings were published in Nature, a leading science journal.

ECMWF chief Florence Rabier told AFP the project was a "first step" towards integrating AI in weather forecasting but that "it is indeed a leap forward."

At this stage it can be used to supplement their current models, she said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday it will archive its database of billion-dollar climate disasters, as the Trump administration reduces the resources available to the agency.

The database has measured the direct costs of major weather disasters in the U.S. since 1980. It collects information from federal and state agencies and insurance companies to estimate the dollar impacts of individual events such as hurricanes or wildfires. As the data accumulates, it also provides insight into historical weather and climate trends, and future-looking disaster risk mapping for the whole U.S.

But NOAA said Thursday the tool "will be retired, with no updates beyond calendar year 2024." The changes were made in "alignment with evolving priorities, statutory mandates, and staffing changes." The data collected in the archive to date will remain accessible. The last full year of data showed 27 events accounted for more than $182 billion in damage to the U.S. and caused 568 deaths.

The Trump administration has made deep cuts to NOAA staffing since the beginning of the term, leading experts and lawmakers to warn that lives would be at risk going forward as services and tools were shuttered