A private weather company has launched the first 20 satellites of a planned 100-satellite constellation that will provide real-time tracking of every storm system on Earth with updates every 5 minutes.

The Technology

Tomorrow.io's satellite constellation uses microwave radiometers to see through clouds, providing precipitation data that current geostationary satellites cannot. The data feeds directly into weather forecast models.

Forecast Improvement

NOAA and the European weather service have signed contracts to integrate the data, which is expected to improve precipitation forecasts by 20-30% globally.