Weather Balloons

Prior to the reorganization and modernization of the Weather Service in the 1990s, the weather balloon observation was taken at the St. Cloud Weather Office. When the St. Cloud office was closed the observation equipment was relocated to the Chanhassen NWS site.

Radiosonde fact sheet

Information gathered by the radiosonde, attached to the balloon is forwarded for entry into the computer models. Data is critical to assessing the severe weather potential in the summer and the precipitation type in the winter. The balloon rises about nine hundred feet a minute. The balloon bursts about eighty minutes after the launch. Data is gathered by the radiosonde as the balloon ascends.

Location of radiosonde observation sites. Click on a site for the vertical profile

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When meteorologists speak of the term CAP, they are referring to a warm layer about ten to fifteen thousand feet in the atmosphere that prohibits the rising of air and the formation of strong thunderstorms. Once the CAP is broken, often by a disturbance or trough moving over the warmer air, powerful to severe thunderstorm can result.

Keep your eye on the sky today for developing thunderstorms.

SPC Severe Weather Outlooks

CE