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 WASHINGTON (AP) — With massive job cuts, the National Weather Service is eliminating or reducing vital weather balloon launches in eight northern locations, which meteorologists and former agency leaders said will degrade the accuracy of forecasts just as severe weather season kicks in.


 The normally twice-daily launches of weather balloons in about 100 locations provide information that forecasters and computer models use to figure out what the weather will be and how dangerous it can get, so cutting back is a mistake, said eight different scientists, meteorologists and former top officials at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — the weather service's parent agency.


 The
 balloons soar 100,000 feet
 in the air with sensors called radiosondes hanging about 20 feet below them that measure temperature, dew point, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction.


 “The thing about weather balloons is that they give you information you can't get any other way,” said D. James Baker, a former NOAA chief during the Clinton administration. He had to cut spending in the agency during his tenure but he said he refused to cut observations such as weather balloons. “It's an absolutely essential piece of the forecasting system.”


 University of Oklahoma environment professor Renee McPherson said, “This frankly is just dangerous.”


 “Bad,” Ryan Maue, who was NOAA's chief scientist at the end of President Donald Trump's first term, wrote in an email. “We should not degrade our weather system by skipping balloon launches. Not only is this embarrassing for NOAA, the cessation of weather balloon launches will worsen America's weather forecasts.”


 Launches will be
 eliminated in Omaha, Nebraska, and Rapid City, South Dakota
 , “due to a lack of Weather Forecast Office (WFO) staffing,” the weather service said in a notice issued late Thursday. It also is cutting from
 twice daily to once daily launches i
 n Aberdeen, South Dakota; Grand Junction, Colorado; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Gaylord, Michigan; North Platte, Nebraska and Riverton, Wyoming.


 The Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency
 fired hundreds, likely more than 1,000, NOAA workers
 earlier this year. The government then sent out letters telling probationary employees let go that they will get paid, but should not report to work.


 Earlier this month, the agency had announced weather balloon cuts in
 Albany, New York and Gray, Maine,
 and in late February, it
 concluded launches in Kotzebue, Alaska
 That brings the total to 11 declared sites with decreased or discontinued balloon observations, representing approximately one out of every nine launch locations, including parts of the Pacific and Caribbean regions.


 According to an analysis of launch data by the Associated Press, NOAA reported that approximately one daily disruption in balloon launches occurred at regularly reporting weather stations between 2021 and 2024.


 Meteorologists Jeff Masters and Tomer Burg calculate that 14 of 83 U.S. balloon sites, or 17%, are doing partial or no launches. That includes two stations that aren't launching because of a helium shortage and a third that is hindered because of coastal erosion.


 “The more data we can feed into our weather models, the more accurate our forecasts, but I can’t speculate on the extent of future impacts,” weather service spokesperson Susan Buchanan said in an email.


 University at Albany meteorology professor Kristen Corbosiero looked at the map of launches Friday and said “wow, that is an empty area ... That's not great.”


 Corbosiero works in the building where the Albany weather service used to go to the roof to launch twice-daily weather balloons. It's now down to one at night, which she said it is worrisome heading into severe weather season.


 “For those of us east of the Rocky Mountains, this is probably the worst time of year,” said Oklahoma's McPherson. “It's the time of year that we have some of our largest tornado outbreaks, especially as we move into April and May.”


 Former National Weather Service Director Elbert “Joe” Friday said the weather balloons get “the detailed lower atmospheric level of temperature and humidity that can determine whether the atmosphere is going to be hot enough to set off severe storms and how intense they might be.”


 Satellites do a good job getting a big picture and ground measurements and radar show what's happening on the ground, but the weather balloons provide the key middle part of the forecasting puzzle — the atmosphere — where so much weather brews, several meteorologists said.


 All of the 10 announced reductions are in the northern part of the United States. That's about where the jet stream — which is a river of air that moves weather systems across the globe — is this time of year, so not having as many observations is especially problematic, McPherson and Corbosiero said.


 Weather balloons are also vital for helping forecast when and where it will rain, said Baker and another former NOAA chief, Rick Spinrad.


 The weather agency has been launching balloons regularly since the 1930s. During World War II, weather balloon launches in the Arctic helped America win the air battle over Europe with better forecasts for planes, former weather chief Friday said.


 It takes 90 minutes to an hour to fill a weather balloon with helium or hydrogen, get it fitted with a sensor, then ready it for launch making sure the radiosonde doesn't drag on the ground, said Friday, who recalled launching a balloon in Nome, Alaska with 30 mph winds and windchill of about 30 degrees below zero.


 Meteorologists then track the data for a couple hours before the balloon falls back to the ground for a total of about four of five hours work for one person, Friday said.


 “It's kind of fun to do,” Friday said on Friday.


 —-


 Data journalist Mary Katherine Wildeman contributed from Hartford, Connecticut.


 ___


 The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s
 standards
 for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
 AP.org
 .


 Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press

Experts Warn: US Weather Forecasts to Deteriorate as Budget Cuts Reduce Balloon Launches

WASHINGTON (AP) — With massive job cuts, the National Weather Service is eliminating or reducing vital weather balloon launches in eight ...