National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Heat Expands for Center of the Nation; Severe Thunderstorms for Plains and Upper Midwest

Dangerous heat expands across the Desert Southwest, Plains, Mississippi Valley and Midwest. Critical fire weather for portions of the Intermountain West. Risk for severe thunderstorms and flash flooding across the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, and portions of the mid-Atlantic. Active monsoonal moisture fuels thunderstorms over the Southwest. Hurricane Fausto in the Pacific, should weaken Read More >

Recently, we recorded an upper-air launch at our office. Much of the edited video is from a first person perspective, giving unique insight into how our meteorologists launch the weather balloon. It was breezy the day the radiosonde was launched, adding some excitement to the mix.

We normally launch the balloon twice a day. The sounding, as it is called, is released around 4am/pm or 5am/pm depending on whether daylight savings time is in effect or not.

Example output from our most recent sounding:

Most recent sounding from KRAP Upper-Air site