diff --git a/scripts/preprocess.py b/scripts/preprocess.py
index e0f3d9a16..16bdf340c 100644
--- a/scripts/preprocess.py
+++ b/scripts/preprocess.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 from src.preprocess.admin_boundaries import KenyaAdminPreprocessor
 
 from scripts.utils import get_data_path
+from typing import Optional
 
 
 def process_vci_2018():
@@ -55,19 +56,16 @@ def process_era5POS_2018():
     )
 
 
-def process_era5_land(variable: str):
-    if Path(".").absolute().as_posix().split("/")[-1] == "ml_drought":
-        data_path = Path("data")
-    else:
-        data_path = Path("../data")
-    regrid_path = data_path / "interim/chirps_preprocessed/chirps_kenya.nc"
+def process_era5_land(variable: Optional[str] = None):
+    data_path = get_data_path()
+    regrid_path = data_path / "interim/VCI_preprocessed/data_kenya.nc"
     assert regrid_path.exists(), f"{regrid_path} not available"
 
     processor = ERA5LandPreprocessor(data_path)
 
     processor.preprocess(
         subset_str="kenya",
-        regrid=None,
+        regrid=regrid_path,
         resample_time="M",
         upsampling=False,
         variable=variable,
@@ -194,5 +192,6 @@ def preprocess_boku_ndvi():
     # preprocess_kenya_boundaries(selection="level_2")
     # preprocess_kenya_boundaries(selection="level_3")
     # preprocess_era5_hourly()
-    preprocess_boku_ndvi()
+    # preprocess_boku_ndvi()
     # preprocess_asal_mask()
+    process_era5_land()
diff --git a/src/models/neural_networks/base.py b/src/models/neural_networks/base.py
index a1eebb5a9..881b1d610 100644
--- a/src/models/neural_networks/base.py
+++ b/src/models/neural_networks/base.py
@@ -77,6 +77,14 @@ def _make_analysis_folder(self) -> Path:
     def _initialize_model(self, x_ref: Tuple[torch.Tensor, ...]) -> torch.nn.Module:
         raise NotImplementedError
 
+    def _make_weights(self, target: torch.Tensor) -> torch.Tensor:
+
+        lower_threshold = -1 if self.normalize_y else 15
+        weight = 10
+        weights = torch.ones_like(target)
+        weights[target <= lower_threshold] = weight
+        return weights
+
     def train(
         self,
         num_epochs: int = 1,
@@ -147,11 +155,17 @@ def train(
                             "somewhere in the data"
                         )
 
-                    loss = F.smooth_l1_loss(pred, y_batch)
+                    weights = self._make_weights(y_batch)
+
+                    loss = F.smooth_l1_loss(pred, y_batch, reduce=False)
+                    loss = (weights * loss).mean()
+
                     loss.backward()
                     optimizer.step()
 
                     with torch.no_grad():
+                        # could optionally weight the rmse, but it makes things
+                        # less interpretable and doesn't help with model learning
                         rmse = F.mse_loss(pred, y_batch)
                         train_rmse.append(math.sqrt(rmse.cpu().item()))