More AI forecast model products and upper-air weather forecasts on the “Earth Weather” webpage

30 December 2024

The Observatory today (30 December 2024) enhanced the contents of the “Earth Weather” webpage and added products from the Artificial Intelligence/Integrated Forecast System of the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (“ECMWF-AIFS model”), including forecasts of surface wind direction, wind speed, air temperature, relative humidity, mean sea-level pressure and rainfall for the next 15 days.

Furthermore, in addition to the existing surface weather forecast products, upper-air weather forecasts (at five isobaric surfaces: 925 hPa, 850 hPa, 700 hPa, 500 hPa, and 200 hPa) for each computer model were added to the webpage, with forecasts for upper-air wind direction, wind speed, air temperature, relative humidity, and geopotential height. This allows users to have a more comprehensive understanding of weather changes.

The address of the “Earth Weather” is https://maps.hko.gov.hk/wxviewer/index.html?lang=en. The new feature will also be added on the “MyObservatory” app in upcoming updates.

Please refer to Notes of the Earth Weather webpage for more information on the “ECMWF-AIFS model”.

Forecasts for 2 p.m. on 23 December 2024 (Hong Kong time) on surface (left) and 700 hPa level (right) relative humidity (indicated by colour layer) by the “ECMWF-AIFS” model made on 21 December 2024. Although the surface humidity was relatively low (area in orange on the left figure) over the coast of southern China due to the influence of dry air associated with the northeast monsoon, more abundant moisture aloft (area in blue on the right figure) led to generally cloudy conditions over the region.