The UK Met Office has officially transitioned its high-performance supercomputing operations to Microsoft Azure in May 2025, marking a transformative shift in weather forecasting capabilities. This £1.2 billion collaboration introduces dedicated infrastructure and robust AI capabilities, enabling more accurate and resilient weather services.

Revolutionary Computing Power for Enhanced Forecasting

The new Azure-based supercomputer, housed in dedicated Microsoft data centres in southern England, performs over 60 quadrillion calculations per second, quadrupling the speed of its predecessor. This remarkable computational advancement operates entirely on renewable energy, demonstrating a commitment to environmental sustainability.

Charles Ewen, Met Office Chief Information Officer, emphasises the technical significance: “We use a technique to predict the future state of the atmosphere called numerical weather prediction. To do that is very, very computationally expensive. Operationally, that’s 200 to 300 terabytes of information a day.”

Extended Forecast Capabilities and Enhanced Security

The upgraded system extends reliable weather forecasts from the current 7-9 days to up to 14 days, maintaining or improving accuracy. This advancement particularly benefits sectors such as aviation, energy, and emergency response services, which rely heavily on precise weather predictions.

Security and resilience form the cornerstone elements of the implementation. The system incorporates advanced cyber protection measures and ensures high operational uptime, addressing concerns about potential threats to UK institutions.

AI Integration and Future Development

Met Office CEO Penny Endersby highlights the partnership’s broader potential: “One of the reasons Microsoft is such an exciting partner for us is that we feel that there is much more value that can be extracted from our data by other people as well as by us.”

The organisation has invested significantly in AI readiness, with over 100 professionals completing machine-learning courses and approximately 20 pursuing master’s degrees in related fields. This preparation ensures the Met Office can fully leverage emerging technologies.

Future Impact and Expansion

A second phase planned for 2028 will triple the system’s capacity, further enhancing the Met Office’s ability to address climate change challenges and weather extremes. The transformation sets a precedent for meteorological organisations worldwide considering cloud-based supercomputing solutions.

The migration to Azure represents more than a technological upgrade; it marks a fundamental shift in how weather and climate data can be processed, analysed, and shared for the benefit of science and society.

News Source: Microsoft News