DETROIT – A team of more than 20 meteorologists for Delta Air Lines work around the clock to make sure planes stay in the air and arrive on time.
Local 4 spoke to Delta Air Lines meteorologist Warren Weston, a meteorologist at Detla Air Lines Global Operations Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
“I just love being able to combine my two passions of aviation and meteorology, and your forecast is really making an impact with your customer here,” Weston said.
Like most meteorologists, our love of weather is why we got into the field, but in this case, it’s keeping you ahead of the weather as you fly in and out of Detroit Metro Airport. Weston told Local 4 they do a lot to keep you in the air and your flight running on time.
“We have two focuses in our group, the first focus is on the surface side, where we’re keeping an eye on our hub airports, like Detroit, like New York, and Atlanta. And on the other side of our operation we’ve got an upper-air group,” Weston said.
That group is looking at what is happening up to 35,000 feet in the air . . . which can be challenging to make sure you have the smoothest ride possible.
“So, we’re actually looking at upper-air patterns and seeing where there are any irregular movements at flight level and we issue special forecasts for turbulence,” Weston said.
The pilots in the flight deck are sending back real-time data along your route to keep you from hitting speed bumps in the sky.
“Sometimes we can help them to avoid it by saying, ‘I think it would be better if you went down a little bit lower for the next little while,’ and they’ll actually descend to look for a smoother ride,” Weston said.
That may not always mean a smooth ride . . . like after what happened at Detroit Metro Airport earlier this year when flooding overtook McNamara Terminal from severe thunderstorms. It’s not always what’s happening “upstairs” that causes the issues in the forecast
---> Detroit Metro Airport traffic blocked by flooding Thursday, officials say
“But then from an operational perspective, we’re also putting out a forecast that looks at the visibility, the cloud height, and it puts everything into a category,” Weston said.
So, if your flight is delayed or canceled due to weather, Weston said, it is always for a good reason.
“Anytime you’re in a weather delay, or your plane is delayed en route, because of weather, it’s always for safety,” Weston said.