Climate change manifestations – Bratislava Airport

Climate change and its global impacts are negatively affecting the aviation sector in several ways. It poses challenges for aviation not only from commercial and economic perspectives but also in terms of safety, due to the increasing frequency and intensity of meteorological phenomena hazardous to flight operations. Numerous scientific studies have shown that weather patterns are changing as a result of climate change, leading to more frequent and severe occurrences of dangerous weather phenomena. These changes bring challenges to various aspects of human activity, including air transport. This article focuses on the occurrence of cumulonimbus (CB) clouds at the largest airport in Slovakia in the context of ongoing climate change over the past 20 years. The study compares the number of CB occurrences with recent climate norms. The results were obtained through a simple analysis of METAR data for the period 2000–2019.