National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Severe Thunderstorms and Heavy Rainfall in the Central and Southern Plains Through Tonight

Severe thunderstorms capable of very large hail, damaging wind gusts, and a few tornadoes will continue through tonight across parts of the central and southern Plains. Heavy rain will pose a threat for flash flooding across portions of central and coastal Texas. Thunderstorms may also cause isolated wind damage across the Southeast. 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