Energy & Science
The Pandemic Has Started Weakening the World’s Weather Forecasts
With fewer airplane flights, meteorologists are losing a key source of data just before flood season starts.
Delta Air Lines Inc. aircraft sit parked at a field in Victorville, California, on March 23.
Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The pandemic that has idled scores of commercial flights is having a little-noticed consequence for meteorologists, whose forecasts rely in part on data collected from planes. That means a crucial eye in the sky has weakened just as spring flood waters rise across North American and Europe, and farmers are preparing to plant wheat, corn and soybeans.
“In terms of importance, aircraft data are usually in the top five,” said Chris Davis, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.