Human-Centered Weather Forecasts initiative

Expanding access to weather forecasts in low- and middle-income countries.

What is Human-Centered Forecasting?

Weather forecasts should should be accurate as well as tailored to the specific human needs on the ground, and then delivered at the right time and place to inform decisions—like giving farmers advanced notice of the rainy season. The Human-Centered Weather Forecasts (HCF) Initiative embodies this concept and brings together climate scientists, artificial intelligence (AI) experts and economists to build and evaluate weather forecasts that can target what citizens need to know, leveraging the power of AI. The interdisciplinary team then works with low- and middle-income countries to disseminate forecasts, test dissemination strategies, refine them based on user feedback, and scale them up to improve decision-making.

What We Do

Benchmarking and AI Model Development

We work with tech companies, academia, and others to push AI to its limits to deliver tailored forecasts that can improve human lives.

Large-Scale Dissemination

We work with partners to help them disseminate tailored weather forecasts, taking a user-focused approach.

Assessing Impact, User Experience

For weather messages to be helpful, users need to understand them. We evaluate what worked, and what didn't.

Forecaster Capacity Building

We work with low- and middle-income countries to strengthen their AI-driven weather forecasting capabilities.

Leadership

Scholar

Pedram Hassanzadeh

Associate Professor, Geophysical Sciences and Computational and Applied Math; Director, AI for Climate Initiative

Scholar

Amir Jina

Assistant Professor, Harris School of Public Policy

Scholar

Michael Kremer

University Professor in Economics, the College, and the Harris School of Public Policy; Director of the Development Innovation Lab; Faculty Director, Development Economics Center at the University of Chicago

Featured Project

Forecasting the onset of the Indian monsoon

Researchers are using new advances in artificial intelligence with knowledge of monsoon dynamics to predict the onset of the rainy season for Indian farmers.

Latest News & Insights

News·Sep 15, 2025

Artificial intelligence is helping Indian farmers adapt to climate change—forecast accurately predicting an unusual monsoon season reached 38 million

The Indian Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare sent farmers AI-based forecasts that predicted when the monsoon would arrive up to 30 days in advance, allowing farmers to plan ahead. AI allowed forecasts to not only be accurate, but also...

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Op-Ed & Analysis·Sep 4, 2025

AI is transforming weather forecasting − and that could be a game changer for farmers around the world

via The Conversation

AI-Powered weather forecasting models could generate generate accurate short- and medium-range forecasts for locations around the globe up to two weeks ahead at a faster rate and less costs than traditional physics-based models.

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News·Jul 31, 2025

UChicago’s AI for Climate Initiative Leads New Approach to Modeling and Understanding Earth System

AICE aims to leverage the power of AI and machine learning to accelerate and transform the theory and practice of weather and climate analysis and prediction.

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