With critical staffing and funding cuts hitting the U.S. National Weather Service, our ability to forecast and respond to extreme weather is at risk. Balloon launches are being canceled, modeling systems degraded, and data collection networks weakened – just as climate change fuels more deadly hurricanes, heatwaves, and tornadoes. If the government won’t protect these systems, we, the people, must.
Call to Action
If the systems meant to protect us are breaking, it’s time to build better ones. Whether you’re a coder, a community leader, or just someone who watches the skies, this is your call: Join Forecase Force and help ensure early warnings reach everyone who needs them – before it’s too late.
Guidelines
Challenge Structure
Participants will choose one of four challenge tracks to design scalable, community-driven solutions:
- Data Collection & Observation
Reinvent how we gather weather data from the ground, air, and sea using citizen science, IoT, or novel instrumentation.
- Data Quality Control
Build tools or networks that clean, verify, and calibrate data—even with limited resources or technical infrastructure.
- Forecast Modeling
Design new or hybrid models that can run on open datasets, lower-cost computing environments, or community contributions.
- Forecast Dissemination & Communication
Develop accessible, resilient ways to alert people early—especially underserved or at-risk communities. Each track invites bold, practical, or even radical ideas that shift ownership of weather resilience to the crowd.
