Buffalo, NY (WBEN) 5G technology is on its way, but one weather expert tells us it could negatively affect the accuracy of forecasts.
Niziol fears if those frequencies are sold, forecast accuracy could be reduced. "The reduction of the accuracy, if this goes through, could take us back decades. We're doing so well recently in providing that safety to the public with advance warnings, this would be a blow," explains Niziol. Niziol means if this were to happen before Superstorm Sandy hit, the results could have been disastrous. "A degradation in this type of data suggests that storm would not have been accurately forecast, That leads to issues in evacuations, lead time in these major storms, and a potential for increased injury and death," says Niziol.
Niziol says there's an effort to bring the science side together with those working on releasing frequencies for5G, and there will be meetings in the next couple of months. "We're hoping that when we have this major meeting of the world's frequency regulators, then there may be a negotiation to make these narrow bands off limits to the 5G network, and be able to reserve that for our weather satellites to give the most accurate forecasts to the public," say Niziol.