The 2024 Hurricane Forecasting Season: How Horizon AI Delivered Unmatched Accuracy
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season brought intense storms, rapid intensification, and widespread impacts across the U.S. Gulf Coast and Southeast. In a year where every hour mattered, Climavision’s Horizon AI Global and Horizon AI HIRES models demonstrated a new gold standard in hurricane forecasting — combining early strategic insight with hyperlocal, short-term operational precision.
Throughout the season, Horizon AI Global consistently led the industry in track accuracy, lead time, and storm intensity forecasting. Meanwhile, Horizon AI HIRES delivered crucial short-range detail needed for operational readiness. Together, they helped utilities, emergency managers, and businesses better prepare for and respond to nature’s most destructive forces.
In Summary
- Horizon AI Global provided industry-leading hurricane forecasting in 2024, accurately predicting landfalls for Hurricanes Beryl, Helene, and Milton with greater lead time and precision than standard government models like GFS and ECMWF.
- Beryl’s Texas landfall was forecasted nine days in advance by Horizon AI Global, outperforming government models. Such advanced tracking allows more time for emergency preparation and utility mitigation efforts.
- Hurricane Helene’s path and catastrophic rainfall were forecasted with 15% greater accuracy than other models – critical insight that allow communities to better prepare for inland flooding across the southeastern U.S.
- Horizon AI HIRES complemented Global’s early forecasts by offering hyperlocal, short-term predictions critical for operational decisions in the final days and hours before landfall.
- Climavision’s integrated forecasting solution — combining AI-supported global and high-resolution local models — delivered a new gold standard in hurricane preparedness, saving lives and minimizing infrastructure impacts.
Why Horizon AI Global Is Built for Hurricane Forecasting
Horizon AI Global stands apart as a purpose-built global forecast system, engineered from the ground up to improve hurricane prediction. Every day, the model processes 1.5 billion unique global observations — from satellites, weather balloons, and proprietary sources — leveraging AI-driven quality control and superior numerical weather prediction techniques.
Unlike standard models that rely heavily on government outputs, Climavision owns the entire forecasting process, producing real-time global forecasts up to 15 days in advance. Powered by in-house and cloud-based supercomputing, Horizon AI Global gives decision-makers earlier, more reliable insights into tropical threats — setting a new standard in resilience and response planning.
2024 Highlights: Horizon AI Global’s Hurricane Forecasting Success
Hurricane Beryl: Unprecedented 9-Day Track Accuracy
When Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Matagorda, Texas, on July 8, 2024, Climavision’s Horizon AI Global had already been forecasting the threat — accurately — for nine days. With a stunning 213 hours of lead time, Horizon AI Global outperformed both the GFS and ECMWF models.
More impressively, the model not only predicted the general landfall region but also captured Beryl’s post-landfall northeast turn, which triggered over 200 tornado warnings across the U.S.. It also forecasted landfall wind speeds (~80 mph) days in advance, providing essential insights for utilities and emergency managers preparing for widespread outages and infrastructure damage.
Hurricane Helene: Precision in Track and Rainfall Forecasting
Hurricane Helene, a major Category 4 storm, slammed Florida’s Big Bend region on September 26, 2024. Horizon AI Global was locked into Helene’s landfall location and inland path across Georgia and the southern Appalachians well before other models.
Additionally, Climavision’s model forecasted 14–15 inches of rainfall for Asheville, North Carolina — a 15% improvement over GFS and ECMWF projections. This level of precision was critical for emergency responders managing catastrophic flooding throughout the region.
Hurricane Milton: Early Prediction of Rapid Intensification
Hurricane Milton underscored the season’s volatility. Rapidly intensifying from a tropical storm to a major hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico, Milton’s development posed significant forecasting challenges.
Yet Horizon AI Global once again rose to the occasion — locking onto a track south of Tampa days before landfall. The model’s consistent guidance gave businesses and emergency planners crucial lead time to prepare for Milton’s devastating impacts on Florida’s central west coast.
Horizon AI HIRES: Operational Support at the Local Scale
While Horizon AI Global delivered superior medium-range forecasting, Horizon AI HIRES provided critical short-term, hyperlocal support.
Operating at a 2 km resolution (and customizable down to 0.67 km), HIRES is designed to capture terrain-driven, small-scale weather phenomena often missed by broader models. In 2024, HIRES enhanced situational awareness during hurricane Helene by:
- Providing more accurate predictions of localized wind fields, rainfall rates, and storm surge impacts.
- Producing detailed, actionable forecasts in the final 1–3 days before landfall which are important to utilities, broadcasters, and emergency managers.
- Capturing fine-scale variations in storm strength and structure that influenced flood risks and outage patterns.
This short-term operational precision complemented Horizon AI Global’s early strategic insights, creating a complete forecasting solution across all planning horizons.
The Competitive Advantage: Why Climavision Outperformed
Climavision’s dual-model approach delivered an unprecedented advantage in 2024:
- Medium-Range Excellence: Horizon AI Global consistently outpaced legacy government models and commercial competitors by providing earlier and more accurate track forecasts.
- Short-Range Precision: Horizon AI HIRES offered hyperlocalized forecasts that better captured storm structure and localized impacts.
- Complete Decision Support: Together, the models give decision-makers both the early warnings needed for strategic planning and the hyperlocal insights necessary for operational execution.
In a season where even hours could mean the difference between resilience and disaster, Climavision’s technology changes what was possible in hurricane preparedness.
Preparing for the Future of Hurricanes
As climate change continues to fuel stronger, faster-developing storms, traditional forecasting tools will fall further behind. 2024 proved that the future belongs to organizations willing to adopt next-generation forecasting — enhanced NWP, and real-time data assimilation.
Climavision’s Horizon AI Global and HIRES models not only delivered industry-leading performance this season — they showed what’s possible when innovation leads the way. For utilities, emergency managers, and businesses, better forecasting isn’t just about being prepared — it’s about protecting lives, safeguarding assets, and building a more resilient future.
Ready to enhance your hurricane preparedness? Contact Climavision today to learn how Horizon AI Global and HIRES can strengthen your weather resilience strategy.
