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By SecureWorld News Team
Mon | Apr 16, 2018 | 4:30 AM PDT

During my time as Chief Meteorologist at a TV station in Portland, Oregon, I used something called the WeatherBug Network to see live weather observations.

During stormy weather they made a huge difference in the information I could share with our viewers.

And because it's a truly "live" network, the government will turn to it in a number of cases, like a 'dirty bomb' scenario, for real time information on where radiation could be headed.

And now, WeatherBug may help millions breath easier thanks to artificial intelligence that allows the company to have air quality forecasts down to the city block. That kind of micro-forecast is a really big deal.

The company CEO tells Forbes, "We are able to give a real time hyper-local index delivered on top of a map. This means I can look at Times Square in Manhattan around 4PM and see the air quality decreasing a few blocks around it, while a few blocks away it is still OK. Or we could follow the forest fires around San Francisco and see the clouds moving in one direction or another."

This has the potential to help sensitive groups reduce their exposure to pollution, which could help prevent thing like asthma attacks.

And the company's AI work now allows WeatherBug to predict "conditions up to 16 hours in advance, he says, providing insights on ozone, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and fine particulate matter," according to Forbes.

That kind of AI powered forecast can help a lot of people breathe easier today, tomorrow and in the future.

Tags: Big Data,
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