NOAA Winds Down Launches Of Weather Balloons

The Associated Press reports:

With massive job cuts, the National Weather Service is eliminating or reducing vital weather balloon launches in eight more northern locations, which meteorologists and former agency leaders said will degrade the accuracy of forecasts just as severe weather season kicks in.

The normally twice-daily launches of weather balloons provide information that forecasters and computer models use to figure out what the weather will be and how dangerous it can get, so cutting back is a mistake, said eight different scientists, meteorologists and former top officials at NOAA.

The balloons soar 100,000 feet in the air with sensors called radiosondes hanging about 20 feet below them that measure temperature, dew point, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction. “The thing about weather balloons is that they give you information you can’t get any other way,” said D. James Baker, a former NOAA chief.

Read the full article. Earlier this week it was reported that balloon launches were suspended in multiple midwest locations.