Weather Balloon facts

While investigating facts about Weather Balloon Definition and Weather Balloon Lawn Chair, I found out little known, but curios details like:

During WWII, the British launched nearly 100,000 weather balloons trailing long metal wires toward occupied Europe, causing power outages when they shorted out power lines and causing at least one German power station to burn down.

how weather balloons work?

A Florida man faked his murder by shooting himself with a gun tied to a weather balloon. The gun and balloon were never found.

What does a weather balloon look like?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what happens to weather balloons. Here are 50 of the best facts about Weather Balloon Video and Weather Balloon At Night I managed to collect.

what is a weather balloon?

A Floridian man who committed suicide, and by using a weather balloon to carry off the gun, made it appear he'd been murdered.
In 1982 a Los Angeles man named Larry Walters used a lawn chair and weather balloons to ascend to 15,000ft above ground. On the way up, he lost both his glasses and his bb gun, which he planned to use to shoot balloons to descend. He caused a 20min power outage, and was fined $1500.
A group of amateur scientists launched 200 paper airplanes from an elevation of 23 miles with a weather balloon. Launched in Germany, the airplanes flew as far as Canada, Australia, India, and even South Africa.
Researchers used a weather balloon to carry 200 paper planes 20 miles up from a barn in Wolfsberg, Germany. The planes were released and found in numerous countries, such as Australia, Russia, and India.
Cleveland once released 1.5 million helium balloons. The weather kept the balloons from dispersing and the resulting chaos ended up costing the city millions in lawsuits and took weeks to clean up.
Project Mogul was a US Airforce secret project to detect nuclear test acoustically with microphones mounted on high altitude balloons. When one such balloon crashed in Roswell, NM in 1947, they covered it up by saying it was a weather balloon.
A man tied 45 weather balloons to a lawn chair and packed a gun to shoot himself down. Instead of raising the planned 100 feet he shot up 16,000
The Battle of Los Angeles occurred in 1942 when a blackout was issued for LA due to a rumored enemy air raid. Thought to be an attacking force from Japan, 1,400 rounds were spent shooting at a weather balloon and the event indirectly killed 5 people.
The Battle of Los Angeles, in 1942, was a false alarm caused by a lost weather balloon seen hovering above Los Angeles, thought to be an attack from Japan, which triggered a barrage of anti-aircraft artillery.
There are a group of people who claim the moon doesn't exist. They believe it may be a hologram, or weather balloon painted like the "moon".

weather balloon facts — What does a weather balloon do?

Why helium is used in weather balloons?

You can easily fact check why does a weather balloon filled with helium rise by examining the linked well-known sources.

Twice each day, 800 weather balloons are launched around the world and none have ever collided with an aircraft. - source

About Larry Walters, who in 1982 attached a bunch of weather balloons to a lawn chair and launched himself into the sky, eventually reaching 16,000 feet. His plan for landing was to pop the balloons with a pellet gun, but he flew into LAX airspace and shut down the airport before he could land. - source

The debris was taken to Ft. Worth, Texas for examination. Major-General Roger Ramey claimed the debris was from a weather balloon.

Weather balloons come in a variety of sizes from 350 grams to as much as 1500 grams. Weather balloons are listed by their weight not their physical size as this varies somewhat.

What happens to weather balloons when they pop?

Heavier weather balloons cost more to launch because more gas must be used.

How weather balloon is made?

In 1986 Cleveland set a world record by releasing 1.4m balloons. However a change in weather caused the balloons to drop to the ground causing traffic chaos, injured horses and prevented the rescue of two missing fisherman

In March 2011 a team of scientists, engineers & balloon pilots made a Pixar’s 'Up' inspired floating house for Nat Geo. Launching a 16′ X 16′ house 18′ tall with 300 8′ coloured weather balloons (setting a new world record). Reached an altitude of 10,000 feet & flew for 1 hour or so.

Weather balloons can also be used for purposes outside of the weather field including for aviation purposes, monitoring of pollution, video creation, photography, and research.

On 1982, underestimating helium's lifting power, Larry Walters attached 45 helium-filled weather balloons to a chair to fly it and rose to 4600 m near Los Angeles International Airport, before shooting ballons and landing in power lines

A 71 year old man from Palm Beach, Florida tied a gun to a weather balloon, inflated it, then shot himself to death... successfully faking his own murder

When do meteorologists launch weather balloons?

During WWII, Japan sent thousands of weather balloons loaded with bombs to the US via newly discovered jet streams. One bomb was responsible for the only enemy-inflicted deaths on the US mainland during WWII.

It is possible to send research balloons into the stratosphere. Some researchers and even students have sent helium balloons with cameras to record the stratosphere.

Weather balloons can be used to determine current weather conditions as well as to provide data for forecasting and for research.

Weather balloons released by the National Weather Service grow to the size of a 2-story house before popping due to pressure changes. The attached instrument package then uses a parachute to float back to earth. The package contains a prepaid envelope to send the instrumentation back if found.

Both civilian and military governments use weather balloons. The National Weather Service is a meteorological agency in the U.S. that launches weather balloons on a regular basis and shares the data with countries around the world.

How high do weather balloons go?

A second press release by the army claimed that the debris was from a weather balloon, contradicting the first press release.

About Larry Walters, a guy from the LA metro area who used 45 weather balloons to power a normal lawn chair 15,000 feet (4600 m) into the air in 1982. He illegally went into LAX airspace, and eventually landed in Long Beach on some power lines. He was unhurt.

About Larry Walters, a man who reached a height of 4600 meters in 1982 using a lawnchair and 45 helium-filled weather balloons

Twice a day, every day of the year, weather balloons equipped with sensors and transmitter are released simultaneously from almost 900 locations worldwide. They burst after reaching high enough altitude.

The Continental Drift Theory, discovered by Alfred Wegener in the early 20th century, was a result of his use of weather balloons. Although he published his theory in 1912 nobody really accepted it until 30 years after his death, in the 1960s. He also had a moon crater and Mars crater named after him.

The first meteorologist known to launch weather balloons, Leon Teisserenc de Bort, subsequently had a moon crater and a crater on Mars named after him because of his work.

Weather balloons can reach tremendous heights, with some high altitude balloons reaching as high as 32 miles high into the stratosphere namely the BU60-1, in 2002 which reached 32.9 miles.

The Battle of Los Angeles, in which several anti-aircraft operators fired artillery at what was thought to be a Japanese air raid. Thorough investigation eventually led the government to believe that the UFOs were actually weather balloons.

Larry Walters. A man who, in 1982, achieved his childhood dream of flying with the aid of a weather balloon... I mean 40+ weather balloons, a lawn chair and a bb gun. A dream 20 years and 16,000ft in the making.

Larry Walters, the man famous for taking flight with weather balloons and a lawn chair, ended up committing suicide years later.

Dalton was also very influential in the study of meteorology, and many of his ideas were not altered until the invention of the airplane and weather balloons.

The world record for teddy bear skydiving was set on August 26, 2013 when a bear named Babbage was released from a weather balloon at 127,953 feet

In 1958 weather balloons called transosondes were experimented with to record debris from atomic fallout. These were meant to stay in place for a long period of time.

Some companies have begun to offer a funeral service that scatters human ashes at high altitudes with weather balloons. This service would benefit those people that wish their ashes to be scattered at a high level above the earth, possibly because they spent part of their lives high above the earth which would be the case with pilots and skydivers.

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Weather Balloon. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Weather Balloon so important!