National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Tracking Two Storms Impacting the Northern U.S. Through Thanksgiving and into This Weekend

Heavy lake effect snow, gusty winds, and localized blizzard conditions will persist through Thanksgiving near and downwind of the Great Lakes. Rain and mountain snow are forecast for the Pacific Northwest. Confidence is increasing for another winter storm to develop over the northern and central Rockies Friday and track across the central Plains through the Midwest and Great Lakes this weekend. Read More >

Windy Balloon Launch: 7/17/18

On Tuesday, July 17th decaying thunderstorms to the northwest of Grand Junction produced gusty outflow winds across the Grand Valley. The Grand Junction Regional Airport measured a peak wind gust of 70 mph at 4:10 PM MDT! Those strong winds persisted over the next hour and, by the time we sent up our weather balloon at 5:00 PM gusts were up to 58 MPH. Weather balloons are launched at various locations all across the world twice a day, every day, under a wide variety of conditions. We won't launch if there's lightning nearby but otherwise it's fair game! Check out the video of the balloon launch below!

Meteorologist Jimmy Fowler launches the evening weather balloon in 58 MPH winds