Understand how the company’s own meteorology team works, whose work goes far beyond forecasting weather conditions at major airports and up to 12,000 meters above sea level.
Every day, Warren Weston sits at his desk in Delta’s Operations and Customer Center (OCC) in Atlanta and does a crucial job for the company’s operations: monitoring the weather. Weston, along with 27 other people, is part of Delta’s in-house meteorology team, the largest local department of its kind among all US airlines.
And what exactly does Delta’s weather team do? Simply put, they monitor the weather and create forecasts, updated every six hours, and send these forecasts to various operational groups throughout the OCC, as well as to the flight crew of each aircraft, to make informed decisions about the route of each Delta flight. But there’s much more than that.
Weston recently took a behind-the-scenes look at all the functions the meteorology team performs, from updating the Weather Information Tool and helping flight crews avoid turbulence to forecasting weather conditions at major airports and up to 12,000 meters above sea level.
THERE ARE TWO GROUPS WITH DIFFERENT FOCUSES WITHIN THE TEAM
Delta’s meteorology department operates 24 hours a day, divided into two groups that work with different focuses. First, there is the surface group, which keeps an eye on Delta’s hubs and other major airports. The forecasts that this group produces revolve around any obstacles that aircraft may encounter when entering and leaving the airport and are able to guide operational decisions.
On the other hand, the upper air group analyzes the dangers that aircraft may encounter once flights are off the ground, such as areas of turbulence, storms and even volcanic ash. This group works with crews and flight planners to help promote a safe and comfortable flight for Delta passengers and aircraft.
For example, let’s say a volcano erupts somewhere along a flight route. The meteorology team will alert dispatchers to the risk of ash spewing well in advance, so that the flight path can be changed as necessary.
COLLABORATION IS KEY
It all starts with the weather, and the aim of the meteorology team is to provide information in sufficient time for the operations teams to make informed decisions.
“As our team is located inside the OCC, where operational decisions are made, we can easily collaborate with other people in there,” said Weston. “This is especially useful during irregular operations, when we try to identify the moment of the worst weather conditions. We understand what circumstances can impact the operation, and the products we create help improve operational safety and efficiency.”
Each day begins with a briefing accompanied by colleagues from across Delta’s operation, and a five-day outlook is discussed. Focused on Delta’s main hubs, this outlook is key to starting the planning process and deciding whether changes to the operational schedule will be necessary and sending warnings to customers about flight delays.
During the planning phase, the meteorology team works on the forecast, which is updated every six hours and is valid for 30 hours, as well as monitoring the flights that are in the air. These forecasts drive all decisions, from flight routes to staffing.
Station managers
A forecast is produced by the meteorology team and the station managers at each airport can access this material online to use it to determine things like whether extra crews need to be called in. For example, if a snowstorm is forecast, station managers can analyze this prediction and decide what level of de-icing operations they will have to implement and whether this will require additional staff.
Flight planners and dispatchers
Delta’s meteorologists also release forecasts that analyze visibility, cloud height, turbulence levels and other factors so that flight planners and dispatchers can make decisions, such as whether an aircraft needs to transport additional fuel to an alternative airport in the event of adverse weather conditions.
“Our flight planners and dispatchers are looking for things several hours in advance,” commented Weston. “It’s like there are highways in the sky and these teams can use our forecasts to direct them to what might be the best route for a flight that is about to depart.”
Flight crew
Turbulence is one of the main focuses of the group dealing with air altitude issues, so it’s important to be able to communicate these special forecasts to pilots and flight attendants.
“We want to keep our crews and customers safe and comfortable,” says Weston.
Each pilot has an iPad in the cockpit with a product called Widget Weather that they can use during the flight, allowing them to see Delta’s forecasts for turbulence, storms or anything else related to safety. If the flight crew identifies irregularly patterned air currents that could cause turbulence, they can then collaborate with air traffic control to see if they have room to climb or descend a little to avoid them.
IT’S ALL ABOUT DATA
And where does Delta’s meteorology team get its data? Some comes from the National Weather Service. Other internal data comes from places like pilot reports, which are sent in by the crews and inform the weather team about the smoothness of the flight, allowing them to refine the data for turbulence forecasts.
Another important source of data is the Weather Information Tool, a dashboard that shows all of Delta’s hubs. This useful tool analyzes all major hubs, including international ones, for the next five days and highlights those where there may be a moderate to severe problem. This helps identify potential problem areas and allows the weather team and other groups in the Operations and Customer Center to plan staffing and operations.
“Everything we do is safety-oriented,” Weston reiterated. “That’s always our goal at the end of the day.”
THE WORK OF DELTA’S METEOROLOGY TEAM IN NUMBERS
- 28 meteorologists in the team
- 2 focuses in the work teams: high-altitude air weather and surface weather
- Hundreds of high altitude danger alerts issued every day
- 36 forecasts for the hubs issued every day
- 9 forecasts issued 4 times a day, every 6 hours
- These forecasts are valid for 30 hours
- A 5-day outlook is issued for 9 domestic hubs, as well as Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Amsterdam-Schiphol (AMS) and Seoul-Incheon (ICN)
- 50 to 75 stations can have a Delta weather forecast during irregular operations, as the team issues hourly forecasts for each mainline or Delta Connection station that meets the irregular operations criteria.