Weather drones are being tested to help update forecasts of extreme weather more quickly, and could help us prepare earlier for upcoming winter storms.
Authors
- Declan Finney
Senior Research Fellow in Cloud Physics, University of Leeds
- Jessica Girdwood
Instrument Scientist in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester
With an unprecedented El Niño increasing the chance of storms and wet weather in Europe this winter, meteorologists will be looking at new and developing tools to help them forecast as accurately as possible.
The ability of new types of weather drones to collect more information ahead of incoming bad weather has already attracted the attention of financial traders .
Energy traders have to buy and sell electricity produced from sources like wind and solar farms. They need to judge the supply and demand as quickly as possible. This means they need updates to weather forecasts so they can predict when clouds might shade solar panels, or if an approaching storm could increase wind turbine generation.
US researchers have recently highlighted that the ability of drones to collect information on air pressure and wind speed, for instance, in real time is proving useful for forecasting extreme weather events faster.
Meanwhile, UK researchers are pushing the technology further by using drones to collect valuable data inside clouds. Clouds are fundamental to many weather effects , including rain, fog, lightning, hail and extreme winds.
In 2024, the World Meteorological Organisation hosted its first demonstration of weather drones. These drones measured temperature and wind speed, and focused on the lowest few kilometres of the atmosphere.
This use of drones is being developed with the expectation that they can be used as part of a network of drone stations by meteorological agencies, to complement traditional networks of weather stations.
These drones can be deployed remotely from a dock, allowing routine measurement of the lower atmosphere to inform weather forecasts. This is similar to how weather balloons currently operate. Drones, however, have the potential to provide data at much higher frequency, and more quickly. Data could be collected hourly or more often, and with less waste such as lost weather balloon equipment.
A new research project, Drone Observation Of Clouds ( DOOC ), led by the University of Leeds, is working out if new kinds of measurement could become part of weather forecasting in the future. They are looking at measuring the most uncertain component of weather and climate, clouds.
Between June and November 2026 DOOC has been flying and collecting measurements at a site in Yorkshire, UK. Leeds-based drone operator, Menapia, has collaborated with University of Leeds to obtain permission to fly in an unusually narrow column of air up to 1,600 metres.
That small section of airspace enables a weather drone to measure temperature, humidity, wind and cloud particles at all heights between the ground and 1,600 metres. At only 30m wide, this narrow piece of airspace only makes sense for a rotor drone that can ascend perfectly vertically.
A particle counter is mounted on the drone and can determine the size and concentration of cloud droplets. It has been developed and tested for almost a decade, honing it to be suitable for drone-based measurement.
The DOOC project will build on recent forecasting advances at the UK Met Office. UK forecasts now use a much more detailed representation of cloud physics to make forecasts more accurate.
Drone-based measurements of weather and clouds could offer the next breakthroughs in the rapidly growing field of AI weather forecasting . AI weather forecasting leans more heavily on data than traditional forecasting methods. So, the collection of routine observations of the atmosphere has become more important than ever.
As US researchers are also finding , one of the greatest challenges is how to work with regulators to enable drone operation for research alongside traditional air users, as well as commercial and military drone users.
Scientists are arguing for new infrastructure investment and regulatory support to make the most of this developing drone technology.
Drone observations have the potential to greatly benefit wider society through the improved weather forecasts, which will mean the ability to prepare better for upcoming extreme weather earlier, and potentially put protection in place.
