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BALLOONS TRACK WEATHER IN WESTERN COLORADO AND WORLDWIDE
UP, UP AND AWAY Words by Sharon Sullivan COURTESY NWS
Incident meteorologist Scott Stearns launches a weather balloon from the National Weather Service Office in Grand Junction in October 2017.
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rand Junction meteorologist Jeff Colton
Outside NWS offices located near the Grand
remembers growing up in Denver during
Junction Regional Airport, a weather balloon is
the 1982 Christmas blizzard, when it snowed 24
launched twice daily in coordination with other
inches and the city practically shut down. “I was
balloon launches taking place worldwide. In
hooked; I wanted to know why,” recalls Colton,
Grand Junction, certified operations staff and
a longtime forecaster and now the warning
managers take turns launching the balloons
coordinator at the National Weather Service
— which always happens at the same time
(NWS) in Grand Junction. “Most meteorologists
each day — 0Z and 122 Greenwich Mean
get hooked as kids after going through a big
Time, GMT, (in Colorado that’s 4 a.m. and 4
weather event.”
p.m.). A tiny instrument inside the balloon
