Intel and Google Cloud are helping Massachusetts-based ClimaCell improve weather prediction accuracy using big data collection and analysis.
 
Achieving highly accurate weather forecasting requires gathering and processing data from multiple sources in real time. Weather technology company ClimaCell is doing this using intelligent micro-forecasting based on the company’s proprietary big data collection and analysis platform.
 
Optimised to run on Google Cloud instances enabled by Intel Xeon scalable processors, ClimaCell produces some of the world’s most accurate and granular micro-weather data.
 
The weather platform is powered by data collected from various sources, including wireless signals, connected cars, airplanes, drones and IoT devices. To gather and process these data efficiently, ClimaCell runs its global API platform on the Google Cloud compute-optimised instance (C2) featuring second-generation Xeon processors. The combination provides the high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) resources necessary to accommodate massive datasets.
 
Integrating AI and HPC into its detailed analysis process allows ClimaCell to increase its predictive services to produce a holistic and accurate model of impending weather conditions. For example, a major airline taps ClimaCell micro forecasting to access predictive weather data before conditions pose a safety risk to passengers or impact flight times. The airline claims the insights it gets from the micro-forecasting technology saves the company $50,000 per month, per airport hub.
 
ClimaCell leverages Intel compilers and MPI with its code to help boost weather-forecasting application performance on C2 instances. Intel software helps increase the code’s performance by using the processor’s hardware instructions such as Intel AVX-512, optimally uses all the cores and memory footprint, and helps the code scale without degradation among multiple C2 nodes.
 
For over 15 years, Intel and Google Cloud have delivered continuous innovation to customers such as ClimaCell. Multiple generations of the Xeon scalable processor are widely deployed by Google Cloud in 24 cloud regions and 74 availability zones.