Talk:Weather balloon

Helium vs. Hydrogen
RE: "...rarely hydrogen...", as I recall, the US NWS changed from heliuim to hydrogen about 25 years ago. Have they changed back? Rsduhamel 01:57, 4 August 2005 (UTC)
 * An email this morning from Bill Blackmore of the US NWS says that about 1/3 of their stations use helium and the rest use hydrogen.CambridgeBayWeather 15:14, 4 August 2005 (UTC)
 * I was trained using helium in the early 1990s by both the USAF and Metropolitan State College of Denver. 147.145.40.43 00:41, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Safety risks?
For the lay reader, this page should also address the possible safety risks caused by the falling instrument packages when the balloons disintegrate - or is there some kind of parachute mechanism to restrict the falling speed? There is a parachute to carry the instrument safely back to earth. With a free "Drop in Any Mailbox" label, around a third of US instruments are recovered and returned to Kansas City for refurbishing. Many launched from the east coast are lost in the Atlantic, due to the prevailing westerlies. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Timbabwe (talk • contribs) 22:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

In this respect, the appr. size and weight of the instrument package would also be of interest to the lay reader. -Typofier 09:44, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

Just today, a balloon carrying a 6-year old boy is flying over Colorado. This is big news. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kascnef82 (talk • contribs) 19:30, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, turned out to be a hoax. Oops. 203.13.3.89 (talk) 02:07, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

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External links modified (January 2018)
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In recent years
It was written almost 10 years ago that in recent years ballons were used to scatter ashes. Suggesting: In 2011 it was reported that scattering ashes via weather ballon was planned as a business. The Daily Mail original reference still works. Schrauber5 (talk) 07:12, 6 February 2023 (UTC)