SRP metrologists use balloon to predict storms in Arizona
TEMPE, AZ (AZFamily) — The forces of our monsoon storms can be intense, and the aftermath can be disastrous.
“Damaging strength winds, flash flooding, dust storms. They all driven by thunderstorms,” said Austin Jamison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Tucked away in the SRP headquarters, a group of meteorologists are hard at work behind the scenes, hoping to predict storms before they arrive.
“It’s a tough task to pin the thunderstorms this time of year, it still is. But at least this can help us know, alright, this looks like it’s more of an up day or conversely this looks more like a down day, that information can be really invaluable to us,” said Jamison.
That valuable information is gathered through weather balloons.
“It’s a little box that’s called radiosonde so that’s the instrumentation on there, and that gets attached to a very large balloon,” said SRP meteorologist Laura Hodgens.
A meteorologist heads up to the roof daily and releases the balloon into the sky. It can reach 60,000 feet before popping.
“That’s going to collect data every second just constantly as it is going up in the atmosphere. That’s going to transmit back to us down here and give us a full detail atmospheric profile. Temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, pressure,” said Hodgens.
The data helps meteorologists determine when a storm is approaching so they can prevent power outages before they happen.
“We’re able to relay that information to SRP staff on the power side, and they’re able to take that and determine how much staffing they will need for that day, for that evening in particular,” said Hodgens.
“If we can really get a handle on thunderstorms, then we can alert the people of the hazards out there,” said Jamison.
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