Tag: weather balloons


  • Alaska Storm Forecasts Angled by Balloon Data Gaps

    Alaska Storm Forecasts Angled by Balloon Data Gaps

    Introduction: a storm that exposed data gaps A powerful, deadly storm battered western Alaska over the weekend, and early analyses are pointing to a concrete culprit behind forecast surprises: a gaping hole in weather balloon coverage. The cuts that followed the Trump administration’s push to shrink government operations left the National Weather Service with fewer…

  • Predictions for deadly Alaska storm may have suffered due to DOGE cuts

    Predictions for deadly Alaska storm may have suffered due to DOGE cuts

    Overview: A storm and the data gaps that followed The powerful weekend storm that battered western Alaska exposed a troubling flaw in the forecasting system: significant gaps in weather balloon data. Officials and meteorologists point to funding-driven reductions as a contributing factor to these gaps, which hampered the ability of computer models to predict the…