National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Heavy Snow from the Midwest into the Great Lakes; Locally Heavy Rain in the Western Gulf Coast

A significant winter storm will produce a broad area of moderate to heavy snow from the Midwest through the western Great Lakes. Significant snow accumulations of 6-12 inches, and locally more than 1 foot, and gusty wind may cause hazardous travel conditions. Thunderstorms, some severe, and showers may produce locally heavy rain and isolated flash flooding along the western Gulf Coast. Read More >

Recently, we recorded an upper-air launch at our office. Much of the edited video is from a first person perspective, giving unique insight into how our meteorologists launch the weather balloon. It was breezy the day the radiosonde was launched, adding some excitement to the mix.

We normally launch the balloon twice a day. The sounding, as it is called, is released around 4am/pm or 5am/pm depending on whether daylight savings time is in effect or not.

Example output from our most recent sounding:

Most recent sounding from KRAP Upper-Air site