Welcome to Daxis pro rata, where we take just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech, business, and politics.

Presented by Bridge Bank. Be safe. Venture wisely. I'm Dan Permac. On today's show, congressional Democrats prepare to unveil the next stimulus and how Americans are

the next hurdle to reopening America.

But first, dark clouds for weather forecasting.

So here's something I didn't know and I think most season travelers don't know.

A lot of the commercial airlines we fly on are carrying sensors to collect data on the air

around them, not for the pilots, but for meteorologists,

both those folks who are forecasting three and five days out, but also those looking at major

weather events like hurricanes. As the Washington Post's deputy weather editor Andrew Friedman

recently explained it, quote, commercial flights are the equivalent of thousands of extra

weather balloons, providing crucial data on air pressure,

temperature, wind speed, and direction, and in some cases humidity where the information is scarce.

Why it matters right now, though, is that commercial flights are down more than 50% due to the

coronavirus pandemic. That's flights, not people on flights, with one trade group reporting

that more than 6,000 planes are currently offline.

Less planes equals less data, and that may be contributing to less accurate forecasts.

For example, there were predictions of major rainfall in southern Florida last weekend, but in the end, Miami just saw a quarter of an inch.

The questions now are if the lost data can be replaced, what other data collection

tools the pandemic has cost us, and how all of this could impact the coming hurricane season.

We will dig deeper into all of that in 15 seconds with the Washington Post, Andrew Friedman.

But first, this.

Bridgebank knows the ins and outs of business ups and downs and remains dedicated to providing financial

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