Ever wanted to know how meteorologists work in extreme weather conditions? Prior to the landfall of hurricane Florence in North Carolina, many additional weather observations were made across the eastern United States, to get more input data for weather models. Including additional weather balloons launches, (almost) no matter the conditions.
When Florence was making landfall in North Carolina’s coast, meteorologists were launching a weather balloon on schedule in Newport/Morehead City. Right at time when the hurricane’s NE quadrant and its eyewall with severe winds were over their office. The wind force they faced was extreme. Notice the hard time the balloon has when released, fighting against the strong horizontal winds while trying to gain the altitude. Check the video below.
Here is the the sounding diagram from this balloon launch, revealing a very intense wind field across the NE eyewall of Florence.
