Atmospheric profile of Lake Charles Louisiana due to Hurricane Laura – Weather Forecast Solutions

by Jordanna Sheermohamed of Weather Forecast Solutions

Ever wonder exactly what kind of information comes from a weather balloon launch? Every day, twice a day, nearly 900 locations around the world release weather balloons in order to get a 3 dimensional picture of what’s happening in the atmosphere, from the surface and upwards.

As these latex or synthetic rubber balloons make their average 2 hour ascent, the attached instrumentation package known as a radiosonde take measurements pf pressure, relative humidity, and temperature. As the balloon rises upwards, it also drifts with the winds, giving an idea of how the winds change with height, also known as wind shear. The wind shear on this chart is highlighted with the yellow rectangle, which shows how the wind direction changes as the balloon ascended this morning. From the surface to about 500 millibars in height (which at this location is about 6 km/3.7 miles high), the winds were mainly out of the SE. As you get a little higher, the winds turn to become a little more from the S, and in the upper levels of the atmosphere, they are more out of the SW. These wind directions also help to explain how Laura is being driven.

Atmospheric data collected from a weather balloon launch the morning of Hurricane Laura’s Gulf Coast Arrival – Img by Weather Forecast Solutions

This image demonstrates the kind of data that meteorologists use from every balloon launch, to produce a weather forecast. This mornings balloon launch out of Lake Charles, Louisiana shows that signature warm bubble of air in the lower troposphere, circled in yellow, which shows the how the red temperature line bulges to the right as it goes higher.

This means the temperature increases with height within that bulge. Also to note is the high amounts of precipitable water. which is often noted with a tropical cyclones in the area. This means there is a LOT of moisture in the atmosphere ready to be rain out, much like a saturated sponge ready to be squeezed.

Weather balloons continue to take measurements until the balloon bursts, which sometimes happens as high as 100,000 ft above the surface of the earth. Once it pops, the attached radiosonde falls back to the ground, with approximately 20% of those found and returned to local National Weather Service offices (they come with mailing instructions).