The ACARS data is a relatively small part of the overall weather forecast picture, but its absence has been felt according to a study by the Lancaster Environment Center at Lancaster University in the U.K. "This is just one tool in the toolbox," Greg Hanson, a spokesman for the National Weather Service (NWS) in Boulder, told the local NBC affiliate. "The backbone of these computer models are the weather balloons that we release twice a day.” Nevertheless, it would appear temperature readings in the upper atmosphere are off by as much as three degrees because of the absence of airliner data. Cruise ships also provide weather data and few of those have sailed since March.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/covid-19-affects-airborne-weather-forecasting