Denver's weather balloon remains grounded due to a global shortage of helium

It's been nearly one month since weather balloons have been launched from Denver's Central Park. The balloons quit flying in early July due to a worldwide shortage of helium. Denver is just one of about 100 sites in the United States that release a weather balloon twice a day. Balloons have been launched from the former Stapleton Airport twice a day since 1956.

The data collected from a weather balloon comes from an instrument pack called a radiosonde. Once released the balloon flies to the lower part of the stratosphere measuring things like temperature, moisture, wind speed and direction. After reaching an altitude as high as 100,000 feet or higher the balloon will pop and a parachute carries the radiosonde back to the ground.

The data collected is an important piece of weather forecasting because it feeds computer forecast models that help predict the weather. The data is also used to create maps showing the state of the upper atmosphere, including the jet stream, which shows the position of troughs and ridges. 

It is unclear when or if the Denver weather balloon will ever fly again using helium. There are 11 other weather balloon sites around the country dealing with this shortage. The rest of the weather balloons around the nation use hydrogen to fly, including the balloon released twice a day from Grand Junction.

While there is a void in the national data over Denver we do have the benefit of having an extremely busy international airport. Several planes flying in and out of Denver have weather instruments that collect valuable data in the lower part of the atmosphere. The info is fed into computer forecast models and helps to supplement the missing balloon data.