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Short-Term Weather Forecast Skill of Artificial Neural Networks

We evaluate the short-term weather forecast performance of three flavors of artificial neural networks (NNs): feed forward back propagation, radial basis function, and generalized regression. To prepare the application of the NNs to an operational setting, we tune NN hyperparameters using over two years of historical data. Five objective guidance products serve as predictors to the NNs: North American Mesoscale and Global Forecast System model output statistics (MOS) forecasts, the high-resolution rapid refresh (HRRR) model, National Weather Service forecasts, and the national blend of models product. We independently test NN performance using 96 real-time forecasts of temperature, wind, and precipitation across 11 U.S. cities made during the WxChallenge, a weather forecasting competition.
We demonstrate that all NNs significantly improve short-range weather forecasts relative to the traditional objective guidance aids used to train the networks. For example, one-day maximum and minimum temperature forecast error is 20–30% lower than MOS. However, NN improvement over multiple linear regression for short-term forecasts is not significant. We suggest this may be attributed the small number of training samples, the operational nature of the experiment, and the short forecast lead times. Regardless, our results are consistent with previous work suggesting that applying NNs to model forecasts can have a positive impact on operational forecast skill and will become valuable tools when integrated into the forecast enterprise.