Jody Serrano
Editor in chiefEditor in Chief at Xataka On. Before joining Webedia, I was a tech reporter at Gizmodo and The Messenger. While I've covered all sorts of things related to technology, I'm specialized in writing about social media, Internet culture, Twitch, and streamers.
The latest victim of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency isn’t a specific agency or building, it’s a weather balloon. Specifically, it’s the series of weather balloons released by the National Weather Service (NWS) across the country.
While it may not seem like a big deal to stop sending out weather balloons into the atmosphere at first glance, taking them out of the sky may decrease the accuracy of forecasts—a dangerous prospect when it comes to extreme weather.
The DOGE effect. Problems with the weather balloons started after DOGE recommended that the Trump administration fire roughly 1,000 NWS workers, or 10% of the agency’s workforce, earlier this year. Shortly afterward, the NWS began informing the public that it was reducing the frequency of weather balloon launches or eliminating them entirely due to staffing shortages.
The agency launches weather balloons twice daily from 100 upper air sites across the U.S., Caribbean, and the Pacific Basin. As of March, least 11 NWS offices have announced that they will have to limit or eliminate launches, according to a USA Today analysis.
Weather balloons, explained. Weather balloons are nearly century-old tools used by forecasters to analyze data, such as temperature, dew point, and barometric pressure, in the upper atmosphere. This data is then used for weather modeling and forecasting.
To collect the data, forecasters attach an instrument known as a radiosonde to the balloon, which uses its sensors to collect different readings as it ascends and flies through the sky. Weather balloons rise at about 1,000 feet per minute and carry out flights that can last up to two hours, the NWS explains. During this time, the weather balloon generally reaches an altitude of 100,000 feet.
The NWS typically fills up a balloon with 1400 grams of hydrogen. Once the balloon reaches its elasticity limit, it bursts, and the radiosonde falls down to Earth with the help of small parachute.
A weather balloon filled with hydrogen.
Why are weather balloons important? Weather balloons play a big role in weather models, which forecasters use to predict events such as winter storms, extreme weather, floods, and wildfire risk. Furthermore, they can help the models estimate how dangerous the weather will get.
Of course, for weather models to be accurate, they need data from the upper atmosphere.
“For a weather model to predict the future, it needs an accurate representation of what’s currently going on in the upper atmosphere,” Marc Alessi, a science fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists, writes. “By suspending weather balloon launches at multiple locations, we lose data for the weather model, leading to a decrease in its predictability that negatively affects daily forecasts and outlooks for extreme weather events.”
Alessi points out that of the eight types of observation models employed by the NWS, weather balloons are the second most important. They also only cost about $10 million a year to launch.
The bottom line. Many experts have criticized the Trump administration’s decision to cut back on weather balloon launches, the Associated Press reported. Some said doing so was “just dangerous,” while others pointed out that this would “worsen America’s weather forecasts.”
“The thing about weather balloons is that they give you information you can’t get any other way,” D. James Baker, a former chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the NWS’ parent agency, told the outlet. “It’s an absolutely essential piece of the forecasting system.”
Images | Jim Witkowski | Wikimedia Commons
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