Hurricane Dorian over the Bahamas in September 2019 Noaa/Zuma Press/PA Images

When it comes to 5G, conspiracy theories about bogus health risks abound. But while faster mobile broadband isn’t going to give you cancer, it is causing major headaches for meterologists. And as network upgrades roll-out across the globe, weather-watchers are getting increasingly anxious about interference messing with their predictions.

The reason? The electromagnetic spectrum just got a whole lot noisier. To track and predict extreme weather events meteorologists track atmospheric conditions using satellites in order to predict where will be hit worst in order to minimise damage. But, irksomely, both 5G and weather monitoring rely on the electromagnetic spectrum to work.


If 5G encroaches into the space the weather satellites need to work then it creates an interference that blinds weather monitoring systems. The natural frequencies measured by satellites, as well as the adjacent frequencies, need to be kept free of man-made signals as the noise from these can leak into other areas on the spectrum. But telecommunications companies are trying to use increasing amounts as new networks are introduced.

“These frequency bands are used to monitor climate change,” says Eric Allaix, chair of the World Meteorological Organisation’s steering group on radio frequency coordination. “All the observations made in the last decade by the satellite will not be able to be used anymore in the future if they are interfered with. It’s really a shame.”

Read next China is rapidly building a world-beating wind energy revolution China is rapidly building a world-beating wind energy revolution

At the World Radiocommunication Conference in Egypt, limits were placed on 5G radio frequency – though not as strict as meteorologists would have liked. Water vapour naturally emits a radio frequency of 24GHz, so it’s important that this frequency is kept unpolluted by mobile telecommunications signals. Meteorologists suggested a buffer of -42dBW outside the 24GHz band for 5G, therefore limiting the risk of noise on that frequency, but the conference set a less harsh restriction of -33dBW. This narrower gap between 5G and the frequency weather monitoring requires increases the risk of noise leaking into the space weather satellites need to work.

That limit will tighten to -39dBW in eight years, but even that might not be enough. Studies by Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show the limit should go as far as -52.4dBW in order to maintain a safe distance for tracking and predicting where, for example, hurricanes will land.


5G health risks are the internet's new favourite conspiracy theory Health 5G health risks are the internet's new favourite conspiracy theory

However the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service, has a different view. The limits on 5G set in Egypt could be a great boon for meteorologists. The reason? Rain. When it rains, the air becomes more dense – and dense air is harder for a 5G signal to travel through. As such, the Met Office hopes it can track dips in 5G signal to understand where it is raining and how hard. “It could be an additional and unexpected benefit of the rollout of the 5G network,” says Met Office spokesperson Grahame Madge.

Over the years weather monitoring and forecasting has become more advanced, but Madge says that as you get more detailed information about the country, the gaps become more apparent. Filling in some of these gaps with novel ways of obtaining observations is becoming increasingly important for the Met Office. At the moment rainfall is monitored by radar – the UK is covered by 15 radar sites collecting data at one kilometre resolution. Though 5G wouldn’t entirely replace the Met Office’s radar network, it could complement existing observations to provide a more precise real-time view of urban areas. “If they operate within the globally agreed limits that were discussed at the meeting in Egypt then everything should be fine,” says Madge.

Read next Why not melt your clothes and turn them into plastic? Why not melt your clothes and turn them into plastic?

But meteorologists from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in Reading worry that the concessions made at the Egypt conference are only the beginning. “We are concerned about the future, that as soon as you lose one battle, it makes it much harder to to win the next battle,” says Tony McNally, principal scientist at the ECMWF. He worries that this small loss of bandwidth will lead to further losses with the arrival of 6G. “If we're not careful our satellites become completely blind. That would be a very serious situation indeed.”


For concerned meteorologists, it’s a simple equation. Protect frequency bands against future intrusions or risk losing the ability to accurately track and predict weather patterns. “If we cannot give warnings people potentially could be losing their lives because of this,” McNally says.

More great stories from WIRED

🚙 SUVs are worse for the planet than anyone realised

⏲️ Science says we should work shorter hours in winter

🐘 The illegal trade of Siberian mammoth tusks revealed


🙈 I ditched Google for DuckDuckGo. Here's why you should too

📧 How to use psychology to get people to answer your emails