Using a powerful technique known as “3-D nowcasting,” an international team including scientists from the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) has begun to provide, on an experimental basis, forecasts that predict the likelihood of precipitation in a given location ten minutes in advance. The group will use the system to determine if the experimental forecasts, based on data that is updated every 30 seconds, could be used to prevent damage from torrential rains. The work, conducted by a team including researchers from AICS as well as the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Tokyo Metropolitan University, and Osaka University, uses a combination of phased-array radar and computer algorithms that make predictions based on data from the radars.