Keep Eyes Peeled for Packets; About $10 Million Saved So Far
Each time a radio-equipped weather balloon soars off, National Weather Service officials cross their fingers and hope it will be recovered to measure the weather another day.
About 70,000 balloons are launched throughout the United States each year, at a cost each time of $60.
After the balloons explode at their optimum altitude of 100,000 feet--their mission done--the attached radio package parachutes back to earth, often hundreds of miles away from the launching point due to the strength of upper-air winds.
The package contains a prepaid mailbag and instructions for returning it to the weather service, which then has the instruments reconditioned--at half the replacement cost--for reuse as many as six times.
But the number of packages being returned during the past several years has fallen below the average of 18,000 of a decade or so ago, and officials do not know why.
As a result, the weather service is asking people to be more watchful for the shoebox-sized white cardboard and plastic packages.
Over the past 40 years, since the upper-air balloon program began, returns have saved the weather service about $10 million.
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