Weather and climate

ECMWF AIFS

ECMWF's weather neural network running operationally: a 15-day forecast four times a day, an ensemble version with 51 scenarios, and since version 2, ocean waves.

Developer
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), Europe (intergovernmental organization)
First release
Oct 2024
Latest release
Jan 2026
Sizes
checkpoint of about 1 GB
License
Commercial use allowedCC-BY 4.0
Running
On your own serverNeeds a GPU
Industries
Manufacturing and logistics, Finance, Science and research, Public sector
Deploy on your server Hugging Face GitHub

What it does

  • Running your own forecast from open initial data
  • Ensemble forecasts to estimate the probability of frost, downpours and storms
  • Wave forecasts for marine operations

Where it is used

Energy and power gridsAgribusinessMarine logisticsInsurance

Hardware requirements

LaptopLaptop or regular PC, up to 8 GB of VRAM — smaller versions
no versions
1 GPUOne GPU with 16–80 GB — mid-size versions
fits
ClusterServer with several GPUs — flagship versions
no versions

Versions

  1. AIFS Single и ENS 2.0
  2. AIFS ENS 1.0
  3. AIFS Single 1.0
  4. AIFS Single 0.2.1

How to run it

On your own serverWeights are downloaded from Hugging Face and served with vLLM (load and API) or llama.cpp (modest hardware). The model then runs in a closed network with no per-request fees.Hugging Face
How much hardware you needCalculate the VRAM for the model size, context length and number of concurrent requests.Open the hardware calculator

I can set this up end to end: pick the model size, deploy it on your server and connect it to your systems.

Frequently asked questions

Can ECMWF AIFS be used in a commercial project?

Yes. License: CC-BY 4.0. It allows commercial use, but it is still worth having a lawyer review the license before launch.

What hardware does ECMWF AIFS need?

At minimum: One GPU with 16–80 GB — mid-size versions. Without a GPU the model is not practical. You can calculate the exact VRAM for your model size and context in the hardware calculator.

Does ECMWF AIFS support Russian?

Language does not matter for this model: it does not work with text.

Where can I download ECMWF AIFS and what does it cost?

The ECMWF AIFS weights are open and free to download. You only pay for the hardware it runs on and for the setup. Source links are at the bottom of this page.

How I deploy it for clients

  1. SelectionI pick the model size for your task and hardware and test it on your examples.
  2. DeploymentI deploy it on your server or in a closed network and provide an API.
  3. Fine-tuningI fine-tune it on your data (LoRA) or connect a knowledge base — whichever is cheaper for the task.
  4. IntegrationI connect it to your CRM, ERP, bot, website or team chat and set up monitoring.

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Details

Source: huggingface.co/api/models?author=ecmwf. Data checked against the model card on 22 Sep 2026. Have a lawyer review the license before commercial launch.