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Should we be concerned about the loss of weather balloons?

Ars Technica
Summary
Nutrition label

86% Informative

The National Weather Service has announced a series of suspensions involving weather balloon launches in recent weeks .

Staff reductions, retirements, and a federal hiring freeze have led to the suspensions.

The question is, will this significantly degrade forecasts in the United States and around the world? In a normal time, weather balloons would be launched twice per day, right at about 8 am ET and 8 pm ET .

VR Score

88

Informative language

86

Neutral language

71

Article tone

formal

Language

English

Language complexity

43

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

External references

20

https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-23-102605.pnghttps://www.weather.gov/upperair/radiosondehttps://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/timehttps://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/mwre/145/8/mwr-d-16-0398.1.xmlhttps://www.weather.gov/rah/virtualtourballoon#:~:text=The%20radiosonde%20is%20a%20small,%2C%20temperature%2C%20and%20relative%20humidity.https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/032325-summary_allyearglobalimpact_per_anl.pnghttps://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/032325-pitt-radiosonde-1024x680-1.jpghttps://theeyewall.com/https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2021JD034967https://gmao.gsfc.nasa.gov/forecasts/systems/fp/obs_impact/plotsf5295_fp/summary_all+year+global+impact_per_anl.pnghttps://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020GL090699https://weather.uwyo.edu/cgi-bin/sounding?region=naconf&TYPE=TEXT%3ALIST&YEAR=2025&MONTH=03&FROM=0700&TO=2212&STNM=72518https://eos.org/research-spotlights/do-all-these-weather-satellites-really-improve-forecastshttps://www.weather.gov/media/notification/pdf_2025/pns25-17_Suspension_RAOB_Launches_OAX-UNR.pdfhttps://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2014JD021890https://www.weather.gov/media/notification/pdf_2025/pns25-18_Reduction_RAOB_Launches_ABR_GJT_GRB_APX_LBF_RIW.pdfhttps://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/apme/59/11/JAMC-D-20-0010.1.xmlhttps://www.weather.gov/media/notification/pdf_2025/pns25-08_kotzebue_ak_upper_air_suspension.pdfhttps://www.weather.gov/media/notification/pdf_2025/pns25-11_intermittent_suspension_of_raob_Launches-aly_gyx.pdfhttps://weather.uwyo.edu/cgi-bin/sounding?region=naconf&TYPE=TEXT%3ALIST&YEAR=2025&MONTH=03&FROM=0700&TO=2212&STNM=74389

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