It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! No! It’s a NOAA Weather Balloon!
In order to predict the weather, you need to observe the weather. But how do you do that? You can look out the window but that only gives you a small look at what’s happening in the earth’s atmosphere. So, how can you find out what’s happening in the sky thousands of feet above you? With a balloon!
NOAA’s National Weather Service launches weather balloons twice a day from 102 sites throughout the United States, the Caribbean and the Pacific to help with weather forecasting. Since the late 1930s, the National Weather Service has used balloons to obtain upper air observations.
These are not ordinary balloons. Underneath each balloon, hangs a sensor package and a parachute. As the weather balloon rises through the atmosphere, the sensors measure air pressure, temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed and direction. This information is sent back to the surface using radio signals, where it is included as a starting point for weather forecast models. Forecasters then use this information to forecast the weather. That’s right, you can thank a balloon for your weather forecast.
A typical weather balloon flight can last more than two hours. In that time, it can rise more than 115,000 feet into the atmosphere. During the flight, the balloon and its sensors are exposed to temperatures as cold as -130oF and an air pressure less than one percent of what is found on the Earth’s surface. If the balloon enters a strong jet stream it can travel at speeds exceeding 250 miles per hour.
When the balloon gets to around 20 miles high in the sky, it will pop and the sensors fall to the ground. The parachute will open as it falls so the sensors and popped balloon come back to Earth slowly. It can land in a wide variety of locations, such as in trees, on bridges and in backyards — sometimes more than 200 miles away from where it was launched!
Once it lands, if found, it can be returned to the National Weather Service. Each one has its own addressed, postage-paid return mailbag attached to the package. Returning them benefits the environment and saves taxpayer dollars by recycling the units for reuse.
So, if a weather balloon lands in your backyard, please return it to the National Weather Service. They’ll be glad to have it back!
