Toward community-ready weather observations in a rapidly changing Arctic: bridging local needs, extreme events, and climate adaptation

Abstract Arctic communities are increasingly facing rapid-onset hazards; however, lower-tropospheric observations remain limited, constraining predictability. Previous enhanced observation efforts improved forecast skill but remained costly and impractical for community use. We synthesized these lessons and advocate for low-cost, community-ready atmospheric profiling systems that provide on-demand vertical data and interfaces with emerging AI-based forecasting models. This scalable paradigm can strengthen short-range hazard prediction and climate resilience across polar and other data-sparse regions.