Overview
- The DWD moved AICON into operational use after six months of parallel validation against classical numerical models.
- Developed with European partners, the system was trained on 15 years of data to forecast temperature, wind and precipitation over the next three to four days.
- Officials say updates now arrive twice as often as before and with greater precision, improving responses to heavy rain and storms.
- The agency reports no additional budget to date, created eight new roles for the rollout, and notes that running forecasts consume less energy even though training is more power intensive.
- Planned upgrades include more regional, higher-resolution versions and a new supercomputer targeted for 2027.