NOAA is “temporarily reducing” weather balloon flights from six National Weather Service offices in the Great Lakes and Mountain West, citing insufficient staffing in weather forecast offices.
In a Thursday release, NWS said it would launch only one data-collecting weather balloon daily from Aberdeen, South Dakota; Gaylord, Michigan; Grand Junction, Colorado; Green Bay, Wisconsin; North Platte, Nebraska, and Riverton, Wyoming.
The agency previously canceled weather balloon flights from Rapid City, South Dakota and Omaha, Nebraska, according to Axios, which first reported on the additional balloon cancellations. The reduction in flights began Thursday and will continue indefinitely, NOAA said.
The National Weather Service Employees Organization said last week that weather balloon flights also had been “canceled or made intermittent” at offices in Alaska, Maine and New York.
