“Effective immediately, and until further notice, the National Weather Service (NWS) is temporarily suspending some weather balloon launches in Albany, New York, and Gray, Maine, due to a lack of Weather Forecast Office (WFO) staffing,” the agency said in a memo circulated on Mar. 7.
Radiosonde Balloon Launch Sites NWS Cuts
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Additional cuts several weeks later disrupted balloon launches at eight more sites, including the complete termination of launches from Omaha, Nebraska, as well as Rapid City, South Dakota.
American weather balloon launches are an important piece of the puzzle for Canadian forecasters—especially sites located upwind in Alaska, as well as near-border locations throughout the northern U.S.
Weather balloons are a crucial part of the weather forecasting process. Radiosondes attached to the balloons collect detailed temperature, humidity, air pressure, and wind data as they rise through the atmosphere.
Upper Air Observation Example
The data collected by radiosondes are fed into computer models to initialize these programs, providing an accurate picture of what’s happening in the atmosphere right now so they can predict what will happen tomorrow and beyond.
Losing this many weather balloon launches could adversely affect weather models going forward.