D
uring a weather emergency, forecasts
provided by the National Weather
Service can mean the difference between
life and death for Georgians and citizens
across the nation. With the potential for winter
weather in the coming months, the staff of NWS
Peachtree City is hard at work,
ensuring people have the best
information and maximum time
to prepare and respond when
the
weather outside is frightful.
It might be surprising that
an important tool in weather
prediction is still the weather
balloon, despite all of the
computer models and high-
tech equipment now available
to NWS. According to Kyle
Thiem, a meteorologist with
NWS, weather balloons bring
an added dimension to weather
forecasting that can’t be
obtained any other way.
“We have a number of
different observation systems
here at NWS, but one thing the
weather balloons give us that
others don’t is a snapshot of the
upper levels of the atmosphere,”
he said. “Without an initial
snapshot of the atmosphere at a
given point in time, the computer
models that we have would
essentially be useless and be
like guessing.”
Upper level atmospheric
measurements are important
because they allow
meteorologists to gauge the
stability of the atmosphere.
Atmospheric stability indicates
the likelihood that air will
rise and form clouds and
precipitation, including snow and ice. The more
unstable the atmosphere, the more likely there will be
bad weather.
Each balloon is fitted with an instrumentation
package known as a radiosonde that sends back
readings on winds, temperature, humidity and
pressure. As the balloons rise through the atmosphere,
they continually transmit data to their launch center
until the balloon eventually bursts. All of the data is
compiled and factored into the different computerized
weather models to allow for more accurate weather
prediction.
Using weather balloons takes a synchronized effort,
not just in Peachtree City, but
around the world. In the United
States alone, there are more
than 100 locations that send up
weather balloons each day.
“There are close to 900 sites
that send up these weather
balloons around the world twice
a day, every day, at the same
time,” said Thiem. “It’s really
a worldwide effort to collect
these initial conditions in the
atmosphere, which takes some
pretty impressive coordination.”
Weather prediction is a
round-the-clock effort for
NWS staff. The Peachtree City
office is the only forecasting
office in Georgia and operates
24/7 in concert with their
counterparts at weather offices
in the U.S. and across the global
community. As part of that effort,
they are always looking for
ways to refine their processes
to give more accurate forecasts
and advance warnings in the
event of severe weather.
“The hope in providing
accurate weather forecasts
is that we give people the
information they need to really
prepare in the event of weather
emergencies,” said Thiem. “The
more accurate we are and the
faster we can get information to
people, the more time they have
to make plans and take steps to ensure their safety.”
global effort to gather weather data, the
meteorologists at NWS will continue to use weather
balloons to monitor conditions on a daily basis,
giving government agencies and Georgians the best
information to make decisions about their response to
winter weather.
DISPATCH