Artificial intelligence-based computer models are starting to augment standard, physics-based tools used to predict the weather and climate change. In the next few weeks, they face real-world tests with high stakes.
Why it matters: The adoption of AI in meteorology and climate science is likely to be one of the most game-changing developments for these fields since the dawn of numerical modeling.
The long-running snow drought from Washington to Boston is likely to end, or at least ease, as a winter storm develops, strengthens and moves across the region this weekend.
Threat level: The event does not look like a major snowstorm for D.C., Baltimore or Philadelphia, but the New York to Boston corridor stands a much higher chance of receiving a more significant, plowable snowfall.
Ski areas across the U.S. and Canada are in increasingly desperate need of natural snow for a ski season that typically would already be in full swing.
The big picture: From the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada on eastward, milder and drier than average conditions have prevailed, preventing resorts from building up a wintry base for would-be skiers.
