That's really interesting about the headaches. It makes sense.
The model is actually useful for google. Road traffic is closely linked to weather, with some routes worse impacted than others. If you predict the weather, you can predict changes in congestion patterns caused by the rain, so you can predict journey times better. Most journeys people are using google maps for are probably in the 30min-2hr range.
It's also simply interesting because predicting the progress of frontal rainfall is not something we're good at. We can apply conventional extrapolation, but this only considers the direction of the weather, not at all the changing saturation of the clouds.
Actually, predicting the progress of frontal rainfall is by far the easiest nowcasting problem. The squall lines that develop along cold fronts more-or-less move in a straight line at a constant speed. They're easy to isolate and track in sequences of imagery using well-developed image processing and segmentation techniques. Their total motion is grossly constrained by large-scale kinematics in the atmosphere. And over short time periods (0-3 hours) individual features/cells embedded in a line are more-or-less persistent.
With conventional extrapolation (e.g. DarkSky) you can nail the timing of rain at your location down to about 1-2 minutes by looking at a few sequential radar images, give or take a minute or two if the the edge of the precipitation is a bit more diffuse.
The model is actually useful for google. Road traffic is closely linked to weather, with some routes worse impacted than others. If you predict the weather, you can predict changes in congestion patterns caused by the rain, so you can predict journey times better. Most journeys people are using google maps for are probably in the 30min-2hr range.
It's also simply interesting because predicting the progress of frontal rainfall is not something we're good at. We can apply conventional extrapolation, but this only considers the direction of the weather, not at all the changing saturation of the clouds.