Ground-breaking AI tool is helping forecasters spot hurricanes faster

Artificial intelligence is offering weather forecasters a groundbreaking new tool that for the first time can distinguish which wind patterns will develop into hurricanes.

The new tool is being deployed by National Hurricane Center as the Atlantic season enters its most active period.

The AI tracks early signs of hurricane formation in tropical easterly waves, which produce the majority of Atlantic storms.

It means that forecasters can see which of these low-pressure systems are headed toward warm ocean waters — the prime location for hurricanes to form.

Before the AI breakthrough, automated forecasting tools have struggled to track the waves using satellite imagery, which may come with delays if the tech malfunctions. The hope is that the new tool will give emergency management agencies more time to prepare ahead of major hurricanes.

“With this wave tracking tool, we have a new way to detect different patterns, and the types of systems that can grow into hurricanes,” Will Downs, a Ph.D. student at the University of Miami, explained.

“It’s one important step toward improving forecasts and giving communities more time to prepare.”

Forecasters have only used the tool for a few months, so how it will impact a busy hurricane season remains to be seen.

Red ‘No Swimming’ flags are seen in New York City as Hurricane Erin swiped the East Coast. Erin was the first hurricane of the Atlantic season and did not make landfall in the U.S. (Getty Images)

There will be no shortage of chances. Human-caused climate change is making hurricanes faster, stronger, and more frequent, with record-temperature ocean waters supercharging storms as they barrel toward the Atlantic coast.

This year, forecasters predicted an above-average season, with between five and nine hurricanes expected.

The first major storm of the Atlantic season, Hurricane Erin, formed last week. Erin was one of the most rapidly intensifying Atlantic hurricanes on record, exploding from a Category 1 to a Category 5 in just over 24 hours.

Erin continued to bring life-threatening surf and rip currents to East Coast beaches on Friday, but there were no reports of deaths or injuries from the storm. It is now churning over open waters and did not make landfall in the U.S.

Forecasters were monitoring two more systems in the Atlantic on Friday.