Weather updates are crucial for the safety of human and animal life. They help to avoid floods, droughts and landslides that can disrupt traffic and lead to food shortages. They also alert people to the potential dangers of lightning, thunder, heavy rain and high winds. These forecasts are used by individuals, businesses and governments to plan activities and protect property. Using more accurate and detailed forecasts would reduce the loss of lives, economic damage and disruption caused by natural disasters.

The modern age of weather forecasting began with the invention of the electric telegraph in the 1840s. This allowed reports of the weather to travel from one location to another almost instantly. From there, they could be broadcast over radio or television to inform the public of current conditions.

In addition to a wide range of meteorological measurements, satellites can provide information about the wind direction and speed, barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, rainfall, hail and snowfall. Combined with other data sources, such as historical climate records and models of atmospheric circulation, scientists are able to predict future weather conditions.

While the accuracy of national and global weather forecasts has improved, disparities remain between rich and poor nations. This gap is due to the fact that fewer land-based instruments and radiosondes measure meteorological data in low-income countries, and that they are not updated as frequently as those in the developed world. Better and more cost-efficient technologies can help to close this gap, including sensors that can be mounted on vehicles to collect data more easily in remote areas, and new artificial intelligence systems that are capable of performing forecasts up to 10,000 times faster than leading meteorological agencies.