What is a weather balloon?

Many of the forecast products meteorologists use everyday are high tech: satellites that circle the Earth, dual-pol radar, and powerful computers to run weather models. But one of the most important tools we use to forecast the weather starts with a balloon.

What happens during a launch?
As the balloon rises through the troposphere, the layer of the atmosphere where all weather occurs, it can expand about 4 times its size. This is due to decreased air pressure the further it goes. In fact, sometimes the balloon can rise so high that it flattens – looking more like an ellipse than a sphere.

The trip can be pretty long – sometimes floating for more than 2 hours. Weather balloons can reach insane heights, upwards of 130,000 feet about sea level. To give some perspective, the average commercial flight is around 30,000 feet. This puts some balloons into the stratosphere, the second layer of the Earth’s atmosphere

Upper-air data is important year-round in the Carolinas but it's especially critical during winter weather and severe weather.

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