A large organization of professionals helps domestic aviation operations in the United States avoid hazardous weather. As international operations have expanded, so has increased the need for similar support for global hazardous weather avoidance. Two factors complicate international aviation weather forecasting. First, many flights are over data sparse oceans, so there is less knowledge of the state of the atmospheric conditions that cause hazardous aviation weather. Second, international flights are typically much longer than domestic flights which increases the necessary forecast lead time of hazardous weather areas for effective flight planning.
Thunderstorms are the primary hazard at international flight altitudes.
The only apparent problem area is along the equator where the parameterized parcel lifting appears not to force enough convection.