The Met Office in Britain has developed a new computer that can predict the Winter in a year in advance. It is said that the new computer can take about 16,000 trillion calculations per second accurately.
The North Atlantic Oscillation or NAO can now be monitored by scientists. This weather phenomenon takes place in Atlantic Ocean that forms because of low-pressure, which soon ushers in Winter for the region, according to Nature.
"Understanding and predicting the changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation could have significant economic benefits including potential boosts in climate services for a range of sectors including transport, energy, water management and the insurance industry." Dr, Nick Dunstone stated, a climate scientist and Met Office author.
Dr. Dunstone also expressed that compared to the two years ago; Met Office could only predict the Winter for about one month. Through the new method and through the use of the new machine, it will be their "exciting first step in developing useful winter climate predictions on longer timescales."
"They are not going to be as accurate as the monthly forecasts but we have shown that they can spot what the North Atlantic Oscillation is doing."
Researchers used a technique on what they called hindcasting. Hindcasting helps to predict the Winter weather with an astonishing 62 percent accuracy compared to the weather data in the 1980's, reported BBC. This would be useful to make plans ahead and avoid accidents that an inaccurate forecast might cause.
On a latest video that they post on youtube, Met Office was excited to show the second phase of the supercomputer.
"It weights the dice in our favor. And it will be very useful for people who have to deal to risk." Dr. Dunstone declared.
Despite the fact that the new computer is capable of predicting Winter climates in a range unlike anything seen before, Met Office made a point that this certain technique lacked the ability to predict Summer climates due to the weather being more erratic during that time.
It is estimated that the Met Office's new weather supercomputer costs about £97 million.
