Latvia’s 5G towers double as dense weather sensor network at NATO trial

Skyfora and Latvian operator LMT have turned Latvia’s 5G network into what they describe as Europe’s first real-time, kilometre-scale GNSS weather observation grid, showcased during NATO’s Digital Backbone Experimentation (DiBaX) in Riga. Instead of adding new weather stations, Skyfora’s software uses existing GNSS receivers on 5G sites to measure tiny delays in satellite signals as they pass through humid air. Those measurements feed a continuous, high-resolution picture of humidity and how storms, heavy rain, flood risk and heat stress develop and move across the country.

The partners pitch the system as a dual-use tool for defence and civilian needs. The data is intended to sharpen situational awareness for military planning, improve early warnings for civil protection and infrastructure managers, and support short-term forecasts for energy trading and renewable generation. Because it runs as a software and data-processing layer on top of current 5G infrastructure, Skyfora says the approach can scale nationally without new hardware and can plug directly into AI-based weather models. LMT frames the project as an example of telecom networks acting as distributed sensors, adding a new stream of weather and climate intelligence from assets already in the field.