The National Weather Service will be able to utilize operational weather drone data for the first time thanks to a new partnership announced this week. Meteomatics, a weather intelligence and technology company based in Switzerland with offices around the world, including in New York City, announced its partnership with NOAA’s National Mesonet Program (NMP). 

As part of the program, the company’s Meteodrones will collect lower-atmospheric data, where they say the current national observing system is thinnest. The data will then be integrated into weather forecasts and daily operations within the United States, working through other partners, including KBR, the NMP Prime Contractor, and Synoptic Data PBC.

Meteodrones provide vertical profiles of temperature, humidity, and wind in the lower atmosphere, and by collecting frequent measurements at this level, they say forecasters will gain clearer signals. For example, they point to being able to more accurately determine where thunderstorms will form, when fog will lift, whether a winter storm will bring rain, snow, or ice, and how smoke and poor air quality will spread. The hope is that bringing this data into the fold will ultimately lead to more timely warnings and fewer disruptions for critical industries like aviation, highway management, utilities, agriculture, and emergency management.

“Public-private partnerships like the National Mesonet Program are essential to expand national weather observing capabilities, especially as weather events become more severe”, said Martin Fengler, CEO of Meteomatics, in a statement. “Our Meteodrones were designed for exactly this purpose, strengthening forecasts with previously inaccessible data to prepare and protect nations. By infusing our data into the NWS’s strong capabilities, we hope to advance what modern weather forecasting is capable of.”

“Synoptic’s mission is to expand access to observational data, and our work with the National Mesonet Program ensures NOAA and the NWS are receiving the most high-quality, lowest latency data to support their mission of saving lives and protecting property,” said Ashish Raval, President/CEO of Synoptic Data, in a statement.

This partnership will kick off with a pilot project running through April 2026. As part of this pilot, Meteomatics will run flights from a remotely operated Meteobase in Oklahoma, which will allow pilots to manage operations at numerous sites from a remote operations center.

Source: Meteomatics