Can Drones Replace The Weather Service?

As jobs at NOAA, the parent of the National Weather Service, are cut back, The Washington Post reports that some weather offices will no longer be open 24/7. As hurricane season begins, the anxiety is that tracking storms will be a challenge. To offset this, local companies are building weather stations for their regions. A primary tool for tracking storms is drones. 

According to Smart City Dive, Meteomatics will use metro partners to track the weather. “Meteomatics’ models integrate weather data from more than 110 sources, including aircraft, ground stations, drones, radars and satellites, allowing emergency officials to determine everything from when a storm will hit to how likely flooding will be.” The data is updated every hour.

The Need For Local Weather

Climavision, another weather system provider, plans to use low-level radar. It claims to have partnerships in 29 cities. It aims to increase its radar count to 200.  

Carrie Speranza, president of the U.S. Council of the International Association of Emergency Managers, told Smart Cities Dive, “Staffing shortages at NWS offices around the country mean that jurisdictions are at risk of not receiving tailored weather forecasts or timely weather alerts and warnings,”

At some point, these local weather operators may also have access to AI weather products. Today, they have been built by Google, Nvidia, and Microsoft. It is a large enough sector worldwide that the number is likely to rise. Most developed nations hav

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