Traveling around the world for two years by bicycle would be too much of a physical challenge for most, but Zoe Ashbridge has found a way to make pedaling a little easier.
She and her partner and companion Stuart use the app Windy (Windy) to follow the direction of the wind.
"We use it every day," says XNUMX-year-old Zoe, who is from the English county of Shropshire.
"It saves us time and energy.
"Our bikes weigh between 30 and 40 kilograms, and if we ride in a headwind, we can overload our knees.
"Thanks to the application, we avoid all that.
"Why should we spend two hours on a bicycle today if tomorrow we will cover the same distance in 30 minutes?".
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With the development of technology and artificial intelligence (AI), weather apps are becoming more detailed and personalized.
This means they provide more up-to-date, real-time data and personalized advice.
"Forecast models are now more reliable ... and that's certainly thanks to technological advances," said Steven Smith, chief executive officer of the weather service. AccuWeather based in the United States.
AccuWeather has been publishing weather forecasts since 1962, when their first customer, a gas company, wanted to make a more accurate estimate of gas demand during the winter.
"The ultimate goal is to help save people's lives and protect property, but also to allow people to make the best decisions about the weather, like, 'do I need an umbrella, do I need to leave early?'
Over the past year, the Met Office of the United Kingdom (UK) has managed to improve digital weather maps and the data that goes into them.
"You can track the weather in real time as it moves towards you," says Sophie Yeomans Smith, product manager in the UK Met Office's applications department.
"If it's raining somewhere, you can follow live where the precipitation is moving.
"We're improving the technology behind it all, and we've changed hosting providers to help us improve our services.
"They used to be read for a day, and now for five days in advance".
To meet the special needs of people, the British Meteorological Office introduced dedicated forecasts for beaches and mountains.
"The beach forecast gives information about how windy it is, what the waves are like... and we've done that in conjunction with the Royal National Lifesaving Institution (RNLI)," says Yeomans Smith.
"Mountain forecast informs about weather conditions at the top and at the foot".
In August, the Meteorological Institute announced that it had established cooperation with the Scottish airline Loganair (Loganair) to further improve forecast accuracy.
Sensors installed on Loganer aircraft record the weather conditions around the aircraft during the flight.
This data helps the British Met Office to predict extreme weather events and pinpoint the places where there will be thunderstorms and fog.
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Eric Fleur is the founder of the American company ForecastWatch, which analyzes and compares the work of meteorological services and the accuracy of their data.
He says that despite increasingly volatile weather patterns due to climate change, forecasters continue to try to release weather data as quickly as possible.
"Thanks to technological advances, forecasts are now better, more accurate and more reliable.
"Today, people check the forecast several times a day.
"Now there are more real-time forecasting apps that give warnings for the next few minutes or hours.
"However, it is harder for forecasters to predict extreme weather events because they are rare, but there is increasing interest and attention to the question 'how better can we predict extreme weather?'
"But I think there has been a lack of investment in startup services in this area".
Fleur says that the reason for the lack of financial support for companies that develop new applications for monitoring weather forecasts, to make the irony even greater, is precisely the weather.
Namely, Silicon Valley in Northern California, where there are many investors in technology, is not usually exposed to extreme weather conditions.
"It is noticeable that in Silicon Valley the weather is not changeable, which means that venture capitalists do not think about such investments," he explains.
Smith says it's the weather service AccuWeather back in the late 1980s began building an artificial intelligence (AI) database to contribute to the development of weather forecasting patterns.
The service now uses artificial intelligence to automatically translate weather reports into different languages.
"Our users around the world speak more than 100 languages and dialects, so all these products need to be translated into many languages so that people can use them," he explains.
"Now artificial intelligence is also used to generate text in different languages and compose expressions that can be very detailed.
"They can relate to floods if they make it difficult for people to get to work."
Smit adds that the meteoservis AccuWeather it also invests more in weather and air quality reports.
"A lot of what we do is still focused on health and safety," emphasizes Smith.
"More and more people are coordinating activities according to air quality, such as how the air will affect them if they go out for a run."
"We can provide data on air pollution and the concentration [on the ground] of ozone and other irritants."
He adds that in the event of a forest fire, the service reports on the direction of smoke movement, the strength of the fire and the temperature.
"We are working on issuing warnings faster and improving visualization".
And Zoe Ashbridge, who travels around the world by bicycle, says she has used the app so far Windy in 27 countries.
"If I see someone on a bike fighting the wind, I'll tell them to download this app."
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