AI for Wildfires and Heatwaves

Image credit: Bellwether LEAP Wallerstein Panel Series: AI + Extreme Weather Preparedness Based on panel presentations and discussions by Ali Ahmadalipour, Elena Xoplaki, Jatan Buch, and Jorge Pérez Aracil. The 2025 wildfire season in the United States is forecasted to be above normal, highlighting the need to leverage emerging technologies for hazard risk mitigation. At …

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Data and AI for Decision-Support and Policy

Image: Whitehall Street Station Flooding LEAP Wallerstein Panel Series: AI + Extreme Weather Preparedness Based on panel presentations and discussions by Dr. Terri Adams-Fuller, Dr. Equisha Glenn, and Dr. Miguel-Ángel Fernández-Torres. Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) offer new avenues to provide data and build decision support tools that can facilitate extreme weather preparedness …

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AI for Early Warning Systems and Anticipatory Action

Source: Google Flood Hub LEAP Wallerstein Panel Series: AI + Extreme Weather Preparedness Based on panel presentations and discussions by Dr. Shruti Nath, Isaac Obai, Dr. Grey Nearing, and Dr. Josh DeVincenzo. Early warning systems and anticipatory action can help to dramatically reduce the negative impacts of extreme weather events on vulnerable populations around the …

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Lessons from Valencia’s Deadly Floods and the Role of AI in Disaster Preparedness

Source: Iván Portugués and Luis del Romero LEAP Wallerstein Panel Series: AI + Extreme Weather Preparedness Based on panel presentations and discussions by Gustau Camps-Valls, Félix Francés, Luis Gómez-Chova, and Ana Ruescas. On October 29, 2024, Spain’s Valencia region was devastated by an extreme weather event: one year’s worth of rain fell in a period …

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Transforming Disaster Management: The Promise and Challenges of AI in Wildfire Damage Assessment

The aftermath of a major wildfire presents a grim landscape: communities devastated, homes reduced to ash, and recovery teams racing against time to assess the extent of the damage. In the U.S., a preliminary damage assessment supports a request for federal assistance through a Stafford Act Presidential Disaster Declaration. This often involves labor-intensive, on-the-ground fieldwork, …

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LA Fire Disaster: Protecting Children in Physical and Psychological Harm’s Way

The massive fire catastrophe in LA will be remembered as one of the most devastating disasters in modern U.S. history. Having worked on the prevention of, response to, and recovery from megadisasters for many years, I have watched how the devastation of such events impacts communities and people, especially people with important vulnerabilities like chronic …

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