The Ministry of Water and Environment has plans to unveil a weather forecasting supercomputer, custom-built for the Uganda National Meteorological Authority by Atmo, a California tech company.
According to Government and company representatives, the new meteorology system will use AI to give Uganda a weather forecast that may be twice as accurate and ten times more detailed, the most advanced in Africa.
Major benefits are expected from the weather supercomputer, including higher crop yields for farmers, better routes for truck drivers and pilots, and enhanced weather maps for the country’s emergency responders and soldiers.
“This powerful supercomputer sets the stage for the next five years of meteorological development in Uganda”, said Stephen Kaboyo, the country director for Atmo in Uganda. “Uganda will use this tool along with our other investments to become one of the leading forecasters in East Africa.”
The partnership with Atmo, Inc. is a coup for the Ministry, as the company previously offered its AI-based forecasting systems only in Europe, Asia, and North America.
Beyond the supercomputer itself, Atmo will deliver the machine pre-loaded with a meteorology operating system that uses AI algorithms to automatically correct the forecast based on upon real-world observations.
“AI for weather and climate is experiencing exceptional advances, and now reaching the maturity to come to national meteorological services,” said Dr. Pierre Pinson, Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Forecasting. “As an important milestone in the use of AI meteorology, the Atmo Uganda project is the biggest example of AI meteorology yet in Africa, and I expect this trend to continue for years to come.”
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