All too often, weather forecasts don’t come true at all. It seems strange that even satellite images cannot provide a good prediction of tomorrow’s weather. But did you know that a flock of birds can have a significant influence on the weather? A flock of birds can change, strengthen or weaken the wind direction. More about that now.
What will the weather do this coming week?
The weather report is often based on satellite imagery presented to the viewer. And with a clear accompanying explanation, it often sounds very plausible. The annoyance is therefore sometimes great when it appears that the weatherman or woman was completely wrong again. How can the weather change completely? What factors cause a weather change and how can a flock of birds affect the weather?
A flock of birds
There is no leader in a flock of birds. A flock of birds is simply guided by a kind of collective intelligence. Birds that fly in a flock take into account the birds that fly next to them. As a result, it often seems that a flock of birds are dancing or moving in air waves. A flock of birds can even grow to more than 100,000 birds. So together that is quite a displacement of the air.
The airforce
For quite some years now, the Air Force has been using a radar that ensures that flying flocks of birds can be located. This greatly increases the safety of aircraft because in the past it was all too often crashed by a flock of birds. In addition, this radar can solve a centuries-long question posed by scientists: When do birds know it is time to leave? In short, how does bird migration arise? This issue has not yet been completely resolved, but thanks to radar, science has come a step further.
The flight altitude
Scientists have found that most flocks of birds fly below 1,500 meters. Yet there are also flocks of small birds that fly at an altitude of 3000 or 5000 meters.
Flocks of hummingbirds have been known to span 800 kilometers across the Gulf of Mexico. The Biblical book of Jeremiah also states that thousands of years ago impressive flocks of white storks passed through the Nile Valley and Israel. Large flocks of birds have therefore always existed.
Weather influences
It has long been a contradictory theory that a large flock of birds has a Wind direction can change. But studies (commissioned by National Geographic, among others) show that this is indeed possible. The dancing movements of a flock of birds can create a certain air flow change course. When a flock of birds flies against the airflow, it can create a back pressure that can eventually cause the wind to diminish in strength.
Weather influences at high altitudes
Researchers from the United States and Japan have found that air currents can collide at higher altitudes. For example, a flock of birds can push up a thermal bubble and split an air stream in two. As a result, higher air currents can change course.
What a flock of birds can’t do …