Why Global Weather Forecasts Require Data Centers
Weather forecasting today has everything to do with big data: the need for a high-throughput, high-performance computer cluster is apparent. Behind every weather forecasting platform, a data center does much of the hard work, and Meteum is no exception.
Data centers vary in size, from small server rooms all the way up to groups of geographically distributed buildings. Still, they all share one thing in common: they are indispensable business assets that deploy the latest advancements in networking, computing, and storage technologies.
The modern data center has evolved from a facility containing on-premises infrastructure to one that connects on-premises systems with cloud infrastructures where networks, applications, and workloads are virtualized in multiple private and public clouds.
We Appreciate Power…
The computers in our homes aren’t suited to work with the gigantic volumes of weather data assembled from hundreds of sources. Every weather agency uses supercomputers with incredible computational prowess, capable of completing literal quadrillions of calculations per second. Global weather forecasts take a severe toll on hardware — as opposed to localized forecasts, which you can generate on your own computer relatively quickly by running a weather model.
Supercomputers are programmed to use mathematical models based on past weather patterns and the geography of that particular region. Numerical weather models constantly run equations that describe the key physical processes regulating weather, such as Earth’s rotation, wind speed and direction, precipitation, evaporation, and so on. The models used for weather forecasting aren’t one-size-fits-all solutions; some are good at predicting hurricanes, while others are good with general temperature and humidity prediction.
Apart from open-source numerical weather models, we at Meteum also use our own AI algorithms: they’re responsible for making sense of all the data we collect and producing best-of-the-best forecasts. Naturally, these neural networks are extraordinarily power-hungry, and anything short of a supercomputer wouldn’t be able to run them at the speeds we need to predict the weather in real-time.
…And Storage. Lots of It
Our algorithms process two terabytes of weather data on the daily. Among other things, this data includes high-resolution satellite images and numerical measurements straight from stations, radars, and satellites.
Meteum collects data from over 10,000 weather stations spanning all continents. Radars are another vital source of data: about 500 of them are scattered across the planet. Currently, we receive direct weather information from Europe and the U.S., with plans to cover even more regions in the near future.
Finally, we amass thousands of user reports every day, helping us refine forecasts on the fly. Much of this data needs to be stored for future reference. These streams of data power Meteum’s AI algorithms that make our near-perfect accuracy possible: this calls for an impressive hard drive setup in our data center.
Uptime is Key
Data centers have another thing going for them: they’re as failsafe as it goes. In weather forecasting, every bit of data matters! We can’t miss a single data point if we want to maintain our accuracy.
This means the data center runs 24/7 and isn’t fazed by outside factors. It even has extra generators to account for power outages. Additionally, we back up everything and have fallback machines, so if any piece of hardware fails, it isn’t a huge deal.
Few fields exceed meteorology in raw data volumes — we speak from experience! Meteum is a business-oriented weather forecasting platform that isn’t bound by the confines of limited computational power: we make sure that our data center can handle even the heaviest of calculations and store terabytes of information with room to spare.
We combine historical weather data, real-life weather sources, and traditional forecasting models with crowdsourced user reports. This data is fed to our neural networks, which deliver forecasts and nowcasts that are exceptionally reliable: try out for yourself by getting your free API key at meteum.io. Weatherize your business with Meteum to make informed decisions driven by data!
