skyfront Posted May 8, 2015 Share Posted May 8, 2015 Hi All, My name is Troy. I am fairly new to weather forecasting, but have gotten into it recently through my interest in severe storms. I discovered recently that there are only 91 weather balloon launch locations in the USA, and those balloons are only launched twice a day. Sounding data is pretty valuable for predicting severe storms, so I was wondering why there are so few launches? Is there a need for high spatial (every 100 miles) and temporal resolution (every hour) soundings has the point of diminishing returns already been reached? Naively I would think such data, in particular in the midwest, would help increase the accuracy and precision of severe storm weather forecasts and perhaps push out the prediction window by a few days. I'd also think it'd be helpful for local weather forecasts as well. So I'm trying to figure out why such data doesn't already exist. What do you think? Best Regards, Troy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Global_Warmer Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 Why only? $$$$$$$$$$$$$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach McGuirk Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Radar these does a pretty good job at velocities in the atmosphere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohleary Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Thousands of airplanes that take off and land each day provide pretty high-res soundings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyfront Posted May 11, 2015 Author Share Posted May 11, 2015 Hi ohleary, Do these airplanes provided high res vertical data, or do they mainly provide data at constant altitude at cruise and high vertical res at takeoff and landing? Thanks! Best, Troy Thousands of airplanes that take off and land each day provide pretty high-res soundings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icebreaker5221 Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Hi ohleary, Do these airplanes provided high res vertical data, or do they mainly provide data at constant altitude at cruise and high vertical res at takeoff and landing? Thanks! Best, Troy The models assimilate data from commercial aircraft in real-time. So most of this data is of relatively constant altitude during cruising, but of course you get a vertical profile during takeoff and landing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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