AI improves rain, flood and weather forecasting
AI is being widely applied in the field of hydrometeorology, especially in rain and flood forecasting. In Ho Chi Minh City, the Southern Hydrometeorological Station has deployed a system using AI to forecast urban flooding, typically in Thu Duc City from 2022. AI is integrated with weather radar data, allowing 2-3 hours of warning about heavy rain events, helping to provide timely response solutions.
AI is also used to automatically warn of lightning bulletins in the Southern region, greatly reducing manual steps. For warning bulletins of thunderstorms, lightning, and extreme heat, forecasters usually have to continuously monitor observation data, satellite clouds, radar, etc., but with AI, they only need to set up a system for machine learning, then AI will automatically issue warnings. Any night, day, holiday, New Year, etc., as long as there are signs of heavy rain, thunderstorms, and lightning, AI will issue a warning bulletin. Forecasters only need to monitor and recheck inappropriate calculations to adjust the bulletin and release it.
In addition to estimating rainfall, through the use of tools, it is possible to see the movement of cloud masses. From there, it is possible to determine the affected area to make forecasts and warnings, especially in cases where there is a possibility of causing local heavy rain.
Compared to traditional methods, AI not only shortens data processing time but also reduces manual steps. This is a big step forward in improving efficiency and proactiveness in disaster prevention and control.
Increase efficiency and accuracy with AI
Previously, using mathematical modeling methods also took time and required a high computer system, but with AI, only a server is needed after being learned, so data processing problems are very fast and highly reliable. Normally, when forecasting rainfall manually compared to reality, it reaches 70-80%, while AI can help increase the accuracy by 1-2%.
“We are also gradually deploying and testing water level forecasting in hydrology, forecasting salinity and drought. Currently, almost all forecast bulletins apply AI. AI is currently a common trend in the world, with many advantages, fast processing, helping to reduce labor, manual steps, and fast digital transformation” - Mr. Le Dinh Quyet - Head of Forecasting Department, Southern Hydrometeorological Station - said.
In Ho Chi Minh City, people can also use the UDI Maps application to avoid flooding when traveling on the road. This application is developed by the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Drainage Company.
When it rains, monitoring stations located at key locations will measure, send data to the server, analyze it with AI, and issue warnings. If notifications are enabled, users can also receive warnings about flooded areas as soon as the information is updated to the application.
