KANSAS CITY, Mo. — According to the FAA, more than 45,000 flights take off in the U.S. every day. Every single pilot has to know what is happening with the weather.
63% of flight delays in the U.S. are caused by weather and monitoring every corner of the atmosphere is a specialized group of meteorologists in the National Weather Service Aviation Weather Center.
"I am the lead forecaster on today's shift at the Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City, Missouri,” said Meteorologist Jesse Sparks. “I am in charge of the what goes on in the operational shift, and we are providing forecasts for the entire country to ensure safety and efficiency of all the flight."
"We have eight meteorologists here, around the clock, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, weekends, holidays, overnights, it doesn't matter," said Sparks. "We have thousands of flights in the air at any given time and that's a lot to manage. And there are lots of different weather types that can impact weather. So thunderstorm regimes, winter weather regimes, blowing dust, volcanic ash. It's a lot to monitor."
"The pressure is high and you want to walk that fine line between keeping people's flights going but stopping them when they're appropriate whenever there's bad weather and they need to avoid it,” remarked Sparks. “You're creating diversions and tactical deviations in the air. And it is resulting in changes to people's plans and their flights. And we know that's an inconvenience, but the goal is to keep them safe and to keep the airspace running efficiently."
Aviation meteorology is a highly specialized arm of the science. The men and women at the aviation weather center are responsible for alerting pilots to the hazards we can see like storms and those we can't like turbulence. You won't get off the ground without them.