Google has launched innovative Al-powered precipitation forecasts throughout Africa, filling a critical gap in a region that has historically lacked adequate weather prediction infrastructure.
The new technology, built on Google Research’s MetNet nowcasting model, delivers highly precise rainfall predictions within a 5km radius.
These forecasts update every 15 minutes, can predict weather patterns up to 12 hours in advance, and are calculated in less than one minute.
“This addresses a fundamental challenge in African weather forecasting, where ground observations are scarce and traditional models often underperform,” explained a Google representative.
The disparity in weather monitoring infrastructure is stark – North America utilizes 291 radar facilities, while Africa has just 37 across the entire continent.
Google’s solution cleverly sidesteps this limitation by combining satellite data with artificial intelligence algorithms to provide accurate forecasts even without ground radar coverage.
African users can now access these detailed precipitation forecasts directly through regular weather searches, bringing much-needed meteorological precision to communities across the Continent.
