The Met Office and Microsoft are deepening their partnership with the release of two significant Met Office datasets, UK deterministic (2km) and global deterministic (10km), on the Microsoft Planetary Computer.
In addition to the latest forecasts, the release includes a two‑year historical archive of prior forecasts totalling over 600 TB. This pairing of current and historical forecasts is especially valuable for researchers and developers who want to train and evaluate new AI models using consistent and authoritative weather forecasts over time.
As these datasets go live, their availability marks an important step forward in our commitment to open data, collaboration and the development of environmental intelligence that benefits society worldwide.
This announcement highlights the Met Office’s longstanding ambition to help global communities make better decisions, backed by trusted science and authoritative data. By providing easier access to high value datasets, we are supporting faster research progress, driving innovation and enabling decision-makers everywhere can use the best available environmental data.
Supporting a shared vision for environmental intelligence
This collaboration builds on a shared vision between the Met Office and Microsoft: to expand access to environmental data and helporganisations worldwide can make better, evidence-based decisions to stay safe and thrive.
The Microsoft Planetary Computer is designed to bring together key environmental information in a cloud-native, highly scalable platform. Hosting the UK deterministic (2km) and global deterministic (10km) datasets within this ecosystem gives users around the world a more streamlined way to access, discover and work with Met Office data. From academic researchers and national meteorological services to industry innovators and non-expert users, this release opens the door to a broader community of practitioners seeking high quality weather and climate data.
READ MORE: Understanding long-range forecasts: Science, skill, and application
By surfacing these datasets on a platform intentionally built for planetary scale analysis, the Met Office is helping pave the way for new insights, new tools and new approaches to address the most pressing environmental challenges of our time.
Enabling innovation through accessible, high-volume data
The newly available datasets represent some of the Met Office’s most widely used and high-volume weather and climate data:
- Met Office UK deterministic (2km): A high-resolution model covering the UK, widely used for operational forecasting, research and sector specific applications. Access directly on the Planetary Computer.
- Met Office global deterministic (10km): A global model providing consistent, high quality weather information at a resolution that enables largescale environmental and climate analysis. Access directly on the Planetary Computer.
Making these datasets openly accessible via the Planetary Computer helps reduce barriers to scientific and commercial innovation in several ways.
Increasing discoverability
Traditional access routes for environmental data can be complex, particularly when dealing with high-volume or specialist formats. By presenting these datasets through the Planetary Computer, we make it easier for users to find, explore and understand the data they need without specialist tools or bespoke configurations.
For the first time, these forecasts are cataloged in the Planetary Computer using the SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog (STAC) standard, which makes them searchable and easier to integrate into enterprise workflows. Users can now leverage the Planetary Computer’s APIs to query forecasts by time, region, and other metadata, enabling repeatable pipelines for analytics and AI applications.
Accelerating large‑scale analysis
With cloud native tools built directly into the Planetary Computer, users can analyse these datasets at scale, running modelling experiments, training AI systems or integrating weather data into applications, without needing to manage or host the data themselves. This directly supports the increasing demand for advanced analytics across academia, government and industry.
Unlocking new opportunities
High-resolution and global environmental datasets underpin a wide range of emerging technologies, from climate‐aware financial modelling to decision support tools for infrastructure, risk assessment and autonomous systems. Open access to these datasets encourages cross sector collaboration and broadens the scope for innovation.
Strengthening the value of strategic partnership
As a strategic partner, Microsoft brings global reach and a robust technical ecosystem that complements the Met Office’s expertise and mission. By combining these strengths, authoritative UK environmental data is delivered in ways that maximise its impact and usability.
For the Met Office, this move supports our long-term strategy to deliver data through diverse, customer driven channels. Today’s users access environmental information in many different ways, and broadening the platforms through which we publish our data helps ensure it reaches as many people as possible, from expert model developers to local decision-makers who rely on accessible tools and clear insights.
The Planetary Computer provides one such channel: a platform already used by organisations worldwide to monitor, understand and act on environmental change. By placing Met Office datasets directly within that environment, we help integrate trusted weather and climate information into global workflows where it can make a meaningful difference.
READ MORE: How the Met Office is exploring AI innovation
Strengthening Our Approach to Open Data Delivery
This release reflects our ongoing commitment to delivering foundational datasets through open platforms to support growth, adoption and innovation. By making both raw and processed datasets easier to access, we strengthen the value of our data while enabling users to build solutions that rely on consistent, high‑quality environmental information.
Open access to trusted datasets is central to effective environmental decision making. Whether supporting academic research, enabling new commercial tools or helping communities build resilience, the ability to work with authoritative weather and climate data is essential. Today’s announcement marks another important step on that journey.
The release of Met Office UK deterministic (2km) and Global deterministic (10km) datasets on the Planetary Computer demonstrates the power of partnership, openness and innovation. By working together, the Met Office and Microsoft are ensuring that high quality environmental data is not only available but truly accessible to the global community.
As environmental challenges become more complex and interconnected, so too must the tools and data that help us address them. With this collaboration, we take a meaningful step toward a future where environmental intelligence is readily available, widely used and capable of driving informed, impactful decisions at every level.
You can find out more about how we’re expanding access to Met Office data through a range of third‑party data channels and open data marketplaces on our website, where we will keep the details of all available platforms up to date so you can easily access our data.
Get started
Explore the datasets on the Planetary Computer:
- Met Office UK 2km Deterministic Weather Forecast
- Met Office Global 10km Deterministic Weather Forecast
If you’d like to dive deeper, you can explore the example Jupyter notebooks being published for the Met Office collections here:
Deterministic Forecast Tutorials:
- Near-surface level collection Met Office global deterministic 10km forecast | Planetary Computer
- Pressure levels collection Met Office Global 10km deterministic weather forecast | Planetary Computer
- Height levels collection Met Office Global 10km deterministic weather forecast | Planetary Computer
- Whole Atmosphere collection Met Office Global 10km deterministic weather forecast | Planetary Computer
UK Deterministic Forecast Tutorials:
- Near-surface level collection Met Office UKV 2km deterministic forecast | Planetary Computer
- Pressure levels collection Met Office UKV 2km deterministic forecast | Planetary Computer
- Height levels collection Met Office UKV 2km deterministic forecast | Planetary Computer
- Whole Atmosphere collection Met Office UKV 2km deterministic forecast | Planetary Computer
You can find the latest forecast on our website, on YouTube, by following us on X and Facebook, as well as on our mobile app which is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from the Google Play store.
