Scientists turn to Artificial Intelligence to improve East Africa’s weather forecast

Torrential rains and severe flooding have impacted more than 700,000 people in West and Central Africa, just two months into the rainy season, according to the UN. Earlier this year, heavy rains caused devastating floods in East Africa. More than 637,000 people were impacted, with 234,000 displaced in just five days. Now, climate scientists are building artificial intelligence (AI) into traditional weather forecasting methods in East Africa to improve the accuracy of extreme weather predictions with minimal cost. For more on this development, VOA’s Douglas Mpuga reached climate scientists Abubakr Salih Babiker at the World Meteorological Organization’s regional office for Africa in Addis Abba, Ethiopia