Aviation and the atmosphere: an intimate relationship

By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist

Modern-day aviation is a striking feat of man-made technological advancement, yet it still exists at the mercy of Mother Nature, as every aircraft is closely bound to the whims of our fluid atmosphere. Inherently, meteorologists play a vital role in keeping pilots and passengers out of harm’s way, from small aircraft with only a few passengers, to major air carriers with hundreds of people on board.

To get a close-up view and better understanding of the intersection between aviation and weather, News Press NOW’s Storm Tracker weather team visited NOAA’S Aviation Weather Center, a federal entity that operates on a national and even global basis, located in the Northland of Kansas City. Who knew?

Senior meteorologist Scott Minnick explained the basics of how the AWC issues alerts and messaging to thousands of pilots operating across North America and neighboring air-space.

“Kind of similar to a severe thunderstorm warning or tornado warning, we have what’s called a SIGMET (significant meteorological information statements). Those can be convective or nonconvective. Convective being thunderstorms and then nonconvective could either be turbulence, it could be icing related for severe icing, or it could be dust storms or even volcanic ash.”

Minnick went on to highlight some of the biggest sources of weather-related delays regionally at the busy Kansas City International Airport and locally at St. Joseph’s Rosecrans Memorial Airport.

“The biggest impact that MCI is going to be from sealing visibility and then kind of secondary is going to be wind because you still have to space everything out to be safe,” he said.

He noted some of the unique forecasting challenges at St. Joseph’s Rosecrans Memorial Airport, mainly due to its location in the lowlands of the Missouri River Valley.

“Where the St. Joe Airport is, is very difficult. It’s right in the river valley. So you’ll be socked in fog at St. Joe and around it will be clear. So just all that added moisture and stability there and the river valley, it just socks that area in (with fog). But outside of that it might be clear and calm,” he said. “It can be pretty challenging, especially when you’re trying to forecast at a CONUS (national) scale, to try to pick up all those microclimates.”