Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Unusual Sounding Problem


Jason Criscio sent the above photo a bit after 4 pm yesterday, asking if the NWS was trying a new procedure to be sure the upper-air sonde was reading correctly. He said the balloon (top center) had been floating above the NWS roof for about 15 minutes. However, he reported that it was still there after 7 pm and that he had seen another balloon launched.


So, Jason's photo shows one of the dangers of launching upper-air balloons from an open, exposed tub on top of a cluttered roof. The instrument package apparently snagged on the top of the tracking system dome, requiring a second sonde launch. The strange and unique launch system used at TWC (Tucson) is documented in the first part of the 21 June 2007 post titled
"Comments on the NWS Radiosonde Replacement System (RRS)" at www.madweather.com

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