NWS reduces weather balloon launches

The National Weather Service in Green Bay is reducing weather balloon launches to one a day, citing staffing shortages. Weather balloons are instruments that help meteorologists get a snapshot of the atmosphere. They gather data on the temperature of the atmosphere, humidity, wind speed/direction and air pressure. They are used across the United States, but Green Bay is the only site that offers the service in Wisconsin. The office will be able to request additional launches but day-to-day meteorologists will be losing data. The atmosphere can really change dramatically in 6 to 12 hours and with a missed launch, they won’t know how that atmosphere has changed. The reduction in launches is also happening in South Dakota, Colorado, Michigan, Nebraska, and Wyoming. The data that comes from the National Weather Service is used on everything from a phone weather app to local TV forecasts.