Incident Meteorologists Conduct Upper Air Balloon Release Test

Recently, Incident Meteorologists (IMETs) at the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Jackson, KY tested the ability to do a remote upper air balloon launch. Incident Meteorologists are deployed throughout the year to assist with on-site support for major incidents, such as wildfires or severe weather events. While deployed, they will brief emergency personnel on weather conditions and expected impacts. As part of their onsite support, IMETs can conduct upper air balloon releases, especially for areas where there may be limited weather information. In order to stay proficient on conducting these balloon launches, the IMETs will conduct test releases. Here are some of the pictures and videos from the upper air balloon test on Memorial day 2016:

In this video, you see one of the familiarization test balloon launches conducted by 2 of our local IMETs here at the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Jackson, KY. These balloons can reach heights betwen 16 and 21 miles above the surface of the earth. On top of these remote launches, the National Weather Service (NWS) has fixed locations that release upper air balloons twice daily. The data from these launches is ingested into computer models to help forecast the weather.

Here they are inflating the balloon for the launch. The mechanism attached to the balloon has a weight on it and when the balloon becomes bouyant, the correct amount of gas is in the balloon.

Upper left picture - IMET prepares instrument for deployment.

Upper right picture - parachute, instrument, and computer used for tracking all set up.

Bottom left picture - IMETs track position and information coming in from balloon launch.

Bottom right picture - IMETs tying on the parchute and instrument onto the balloon.