US firm ClimaCell to provide high-res weather forecasting in India via Google Cloud collab

Boston-based weather technology company ClimaCell on Wednesday announced a collaboration with Google Cloud to improve weather forecasting in India by providing high-resolution forecast models free of charge for up to 48 hours ahead.

ClimaCell Bespoke Atmospheric Model (CBAM) will be available as 'ClimaCell-CBAM India Weather Forecasts' to the general public, including developers, scientists and business users, the company said in a statement.

Google Cloud will contribute cloud resources to support the massive computational effort associated with running such a high performance model.

"For the first time, a private company is offering a full-blown operational numerical weather prediction model for an entire country, working continuously and providing high-resolution forecasts for up to 48 hours ahead," said Shimon Elkabetz, CEO and Co-Founder of ClimaCell.

The developing world had been till now been relying on weather forecast generated by global models with course resolution and lower refresh time.

However, with CBAM, ClimaCell and Google Cloud will bring high resolution and refresh time to levels exceeding mesoscale models in developed countries, beginning in India.

CBAM India will be provided at 2 km resolution and 15-minute timestep, and will provide a 48-hour forecast.

This model will serve as the foundation for a new generation of environmental prediction models, such as floods, air quality and more.