National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Areas of Severe Thunderstorms, Critical Fire Weather, and HeatRisk for Monday

Isolated severe thunderstorms with locally damaging wind gusts and hail are possible Monday across parts of the Southeast U.S. Elevated to critical fire weather including gusty winds and low relative humidity is forecast Monday over much of the northern Great Plains. Above normal temperatures in the Southeast and Southwest U.S. will bring moderate to isolated major HeatRisk Monday. Read More >

Upper Air Observations


Decoded Upper Level Winds

Plotted Upper Air Soundings

GOES Derived Atmospheric Vertical Soundings

Alternate Sources for Upper Air Soundings
Ohio State

California Wind Profiler Data Can be Found Here

Why Do Forecasters Still Rely on Weather Balloons?

Twice every day, from nearly 100 locations in the United States, the National Weather Service launches weather balloons, carrying instrument packages called radiosondes. Radiosonde sensors measure upper-air conditions such as atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity, wind speed and direction. The data is important for aviation safety, and meteorologists use radiosonde information to prepare weather forecasts.