Increased Lincoln NWS Balloon Launches for Hurricane Irma

Since Monday afternoon, we have been doing weather balloon launches every 6 hours, instead of the normal 12-hour sequence. This was requested by the National Hurricane Center, for all upper-air stations in the central and eastern U.S. This is expected to continue through at least the upcoming weekend.

The trough of low pressure aloft, which is responsible for the recent cool spell, will be lifting northeast. That movement is what is expected to allow Hurricane Irma to turn northward. When exactly that turn occurs will be critical as to the impacts on Florida and the southeast U.S. This extra data is being fed into the forecast models to help refine the timing of this turn.

The graphic below reflects the conditions as of early Thursday morning, September 9th. For the latest information on Irma, visit the National Hurricane Center's web page.

Information graphic on the special balloon launches