Weather Words: Radiosonde

Forecasting the weather is sometimes like trying to predict a person's mood: invisible, complicated, and always changing. However, we have special tools that can help forecasters know what mood Mother Nature is in, and one of those is a radiosonde.

Taking a sampling of the atmosphere’s temperature, humidity, wind speed and air pressure are crucial when it comes to forecasting. The radiosonde is the size of a coffee cup and is attached to a balloon, the size of a small car, and rises into the air to collect the data. Once received, the data from these balloons that have been launched all across the country is then plugged into forecast models to help determine weather forecasts.

They are extremely important when forecasting severe weather. They can determine the instability in the atmosphere ahead of the storms, and help forecasters determine where the greatest risk for tornadoes will be.

Without these tools, weather forecasting would be much more challenging and extremely unreliable, as these tools are vital when it comes to determining rain or shine.

Jennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.