National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Risks of Severe Thunderstorms and Excessive Rainfall in the Central U.S.; Fire Weather Concerns in Alaska and Southwest

An expansive storm system will bring widespread storms with a threat for flash flooding and severe weather to much of the central to eastern U.S. into early this week. Critical fire weather conditions are expected across interior Alaska this weekend. Elevated fire conditions also expected in the Southwest U.S.. Conditions will remain uncomfortably hot across the southern Plains and the Southeast. 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