Balloons over Saskatoon help anticipate severe summer storms – Saskatoon

You may have noticed one floating around in Saskatoon this summer.

The huge white latex weather balloon flying high into the sky is part of an Environment Canada initiative called the High Air Program.

This summer, the program has gathered information that helps forecasters anticipate severe weather before it reaches Earth.

“What we do is launch balloons, either filled with helium or hydrogen,” said Andrew Conan, a meteorological technologist with Environment Canada. “We installed a small radio device called a radiosonde.”

Once the balloon begins its upward journey, the radiosonde collects valuable information that is not available on the ground. It records what happens in the atmosphere at different altitudes. The information is used to get more accurate predictions for their weather models, which are essentially vertical snapshots of the atmosphere.

“The reason we send balloons up is so we can get accurate readings, which is basically a transect of the atmosphere,” said Andrew Conan. “So basically, we can go up into the troposphere and the atmosphere, and we can get temperature and relative humidity.”

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This data is received immediately after launch from a radiosonde mounted on the balloon. This will help inform weather forecasts later in the day. This is an important data point when there is a possibility that severe weather will occur.

The balloons watch for materials that could cause heavy rain, damaging winds or hail, or even tornadoes. It is also used to better understand thunderstorms that can produce lightning capable of starting forest fires.

“It’s good to have that data, to improve the accuracy of (a) warning,” Conan said.

There are already similar permanent stations in Alberta, Manitoba and elsewhere in Canada, but to date there are none in Saskatchewan.

“We realized there was a gap. So, we used this as a pilot program, and it seems to be helping,” Conan added.

The large biodegradable balloon will eventually pop and fall to the ground.

Conan said the flight took about two hours to reach its final altitude. Once that happens, the transmitter collects all the data before sending it to the forecaster as a single packet.

The station was announced in late July, but because it is only a summer hurricane season pilot project, it will close in mid-September.

Environment Canada has been considering a more permanent effort in Saskatchewan, but there has been no confirmation as to where and when it would take place.