Weather forecasting set to improve

A new £97m supercomputer could put an end to the complaints about weather forecasting accuracy. The computer – to be housed at the Met Office headquarters in Exeter and the Exeter Science Park - will be 13 times faster than the current system and have 120,000 times more memory than a top-end smartphone. The facility’s processing power will be 16 petaflops, meaning it can perform 16 quadrillion calculations every second. The Cray XC40 will have 480,000 central processing units. “It will allow us to add more precision, more detail, more accuracy to our forecasts on all times scales for tomorrow, for the next day, next week, next month and even the next century,” said Rob Varley, Met Office chief executive. The high performance computer will help the UK predict weather events such as flooding, strong winds, fog and heavy snow more effectively. It will also enable forecast updates every hour – rather than every three – and the ability to provide very high detail weather information for precise geographical areas, such as major airports. The extra capacity will also allow climate scientists to run detailed models over longer time scales, meaning better climate projections. "We are a country fascinated by the weather, so it's no surprise that from early barometers to this weather supercomputer, we've always led the way in developing technology to predict the weather,” Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, said. "This £97m investment is a crucial part of the government's wider drive to make the UK the best place in the world to do science and research.  By bringing world-class technology to the south west, we are also boosting regional investment and expertise, creating a stronger economy and fairer society." The facility will be built during 2015 and become operational in September, reaching full capacity in 2017. "We are very excited about this new investment in UK science. It will lead to a step change in weather forecasting and climate prediction and give us the capability to strengthen our collaborations with partners in the South West, UK and around the world,” said Varley. "The new supercomputer, together with improved observations, science and modelling, will deliver better forecasts and advice to support UK business, the public and government. It will help to make the UK more resilient to high impact weather and other environmental risks."