The National Weather Service is upgrading its weather balloon technology and phasing out an iconic white dome that marked the agency’s headquarters across the country for a generation.
Weather Service science officer Robert Rickey released a large white weather balloon from the agency’s Flagstaff office in front of a small crowd of spectators. Twice a day, about 90 offices of the National Weather Service release a balloon 100,000 feet into the air to track humidity, wind direction, speed and pressure.
"Today’s balloon will probably land near Williams. About 70% of them land between the peaks and let’s say, Kayenta," Meteorologist In Chief Brian Klimowski.
The antennae inside the upper air program’s dome has been removed and the dome itself is making the building’s roof prone to leaks.
"We used to have a large antenna that was housed inside the dome that would track the weather balloons and receive the signal from the weather balloon as it was rising up," he said.
He says that while antennae and domes are a relic of the past, the weather balloons themselves will keep going up.
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