Environment Canada says it plans to integrate AI into its long-range forecasts.

Stéphane Gaudreault with the weather service says they’ve been testing the model looking at short-term forecasts and plan to use that same model for its long-range forecasts.

He says while they will be using AI for its forecasting, meteorologists will still be using their normal predictions along with the AI prediction.

“We do not use yet the AI model to make very long-term forecasts,” he told reporters.

“It’s a hybrid approach where we use the physical model as the main driver and the AI is allowed to propose some correction to the physical model to make better forecasts. But this is really intended for the short term (forecast).”

Environment Canada plans to roll out the full model later this summer.