Weather predictions are made and shared out only at the level of what will happen over the next few days. Weather predictions aren't used to predict exactly why it rained, only that it did rain (though surely the why is used as feedback for modelling).
Economists take a different tact, they attempt to claim why GDP, CPI, wages, etc changed. With predictions they look much further out than weather and attempt to not only claim what economic indicators will do, they attempt to claim precisely why it will have happened.
Economics modeling is the same way. From how to price your lemonade at your kids stand to how to size government stimulus.
Regardless, modelling can be interesting to use as an indicator for future research but modelling is never scientific, or more specifically its never scientific in a way that is in anyway meaningful in the real world. A model isn't testing against reality and only ever factors in the conditions someone though to include and deemed relevant, and those factors are only as useful as the person's ability to accurately code them in.
I'm sure you would agree that climate change is pretty hard science (it is) so you must have a misconception or confusion about economics, because really they are the same kind of science at heart.
Models based on observation are used to predict future behavior, and while often wrong, it's critical to understand why they are wrong so you can understand where they are right.