Weather balloons are typically launched twice a day, in the morning and afternoon but due to budget cuts in early 2025, some local National Weather Service offices in the United States had to cut back. Weather balloons play a role in forecast models, as their data is fed into the system. The balloons measure things such as temperature and relative humidity.
More balloons are being launched again this month, which you can see on the maps below. Each of the stars represent a balloon launch. According to this map, Reno is still launching balloons in the morning and afternoon. However, parts of the Rockies cut back in early 2025, but are now back to launching balloons twice a day.
This is great news, as this will increase the accuracy of forecast models. For example, if you say the wrong thing in a game of telephone to begin with, you have no chance of getting it right at the end. Without balloon launches, the models will start on a bad foot affecting the final product. Models calculate thousands of equations and if they start out with poor observations, the final forecast will be off too.