Are you ready for weather forecasts to become less accurate?
Do you trust the nightly weather forecast?
Jokes about forecasters making the wrong prediction are rife, but the truth is things could be about to get a lot worse.
The 5G wireless networks that will provide faster mobile phone service may also lead to inaccurate weather forecasts, according to a new study on a controversial issue that has created anxiety for meteorologists.
“Our study – the first of its kind that quantifies the effect of 5G on weather prediction error – suggests that there is an impact on the accuracy of weather forecasts,” said senior author Professor Narayan Mandayam.
The Rutgers study used computer modelling to examine the impact of 5G ‘leakage’ – unintended radiation from a transmitter into an adjacent frequency band or channel.
The signals from the 5G frequency bands potentially could leak into the band used by weather sensors on satellites that measure the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere and affect weather forecasting and predictions.
Meteorologists rely on satellites for the data needed to forecast weather.
How often do you pay attention to the weather forecast? Do you think forecasts will become less accurate as a result of 5G technology?
I am not too convinced about this study but will wait to see if other studies support their findings, not that it will make any difference, I'm already caught in the 5G net! I’m more concerned about the downturn in the aircraft industry. Aircrafts play a vital role in helping meteorologists to give accurate weather forecasts. But since the pandemic, this has been drastically reduced with fewer planes in the skies. Aircraft possess some of the most advanced electronic equipment available, some of which monitors the atmosphere during flight and automatically feed data to meteorologists who use it to create weather forecasts.
Since 1998, the Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay (AMDAR) system has collected data from 43 airlines, using devices on thousands of aircraft. The sooner this pandemic is over, the sooner the planes are flying our weather forecasts will return to some degree of normality. I am sold on 5G and it will take a lot to deter me. By the end of 2020, industry estimates claim 50 billion devices will be connected to 5G.
This is how far we've come, no turning back now.