ECMWF puts AIFS v2 into operation, with its first data-driven wave and snow-cover forecasts

ECMWF implemented AIFS Single v2 and AIFS ENS v2 with the 06 UTC run of 12 May 2026, together with IFS Cycle 50r1. Both add a wave stream of 11 variables, the fraction of snow cover and a 10 hPa pressure level at the unchanged resolution of about 31 km. AIFS Single keeps its architecture and is fine-tuned on operational and IFS 50r1 analyses for 2018–2024; AIFS ENS replaces the afCRPS loss with a multi-scale loss. ECMWF reports significant wave height forecasts about 10% better than the operational IFS wave forecasts, and lists degradations in Arctic 2 m temperature and in Antarctic summer waves. With the same cycle it stopped the real-time runs of Aurora, FourCastNet, GraphCast and Pangu-Weather.

Share on LinkedIn, X or Bluesky, or copy the link.