On Monday this week, I flew from Atlanta to Washington DC to attend a conference on soil moisture monitoring. My airplane was supposed to land at Reagan National Airport (DCA), but because of a tornado warning at the airport at our scheduled arrival, we flew around in circles for a while and then were diverted to Dulles International Airport (IAD) to refuel and wait for the storms to clear out. I finally got into DCA about 2.5 hours late, but we were safe and sound and I had a great view of the National Mall as we landed. Did you know that many airlines have their own in-house meteorologists who help plan travel and warn about potential severe weather along the routes? Here is a story from Popular Science that describes Delta’s in-house meteorology department. The Atmospheric Sciences program at the University of Georgia is proud of the fact that several of our graduates have gotten jobs at Delta helping them protect their passengers and crews from bumpy flights and extreme weather.
