In what recording scenarios is using a windscreen particularly essential, and why?

Windscreens are essential in:

• Outdoor recording: To combat any level of wind, from gentle breezes to stronger gusts.
  
• Vocal recording (interviews, podcasts, singing): To minimize plosives and breath noise, ensuring clearer speech and vocals.

• On-location reporting/broadcasting: For professional audio quality in unpredictable environments.

• Any situation where the microphone is close to a sound source that might produce air movement (e.g., close-miking instruments).

Essentially, any scenario where you want to capture clean, intelligible audio free from disruptive noise benefits significantly from a quality windscreen.