A few members of our club just returned from a field trip to the National Weather Service office that services our area. We spoke with the lead meteorologist and two other meteorologists who work at that station. We watched the preparation of the weather balloon and radiosonde and then the launch. Following the launch, were were able to observe the tracking system for the balloon and the data coming from the radiosonde. The meteorologists explained what the do and how they do it and answered a plethora of questions from our group. Given that we are subject to tornadoes, floods, and hurricanes in our area, the tour was most interesting, even to my non-technical, non-ham XYL.
The meteorologists were very accommodating to our group.
Following the tour, we went to a cajun restaurant to top off the evening.