On August 30, 2003 we lauched four weather balloons to see where they would land. We attached a disposable camera and a note to each balloon. Each camera and note were vaccuum sealed in plastic. The note asked whoever finds the balloons to take some pictures and send the camera back.

We bought the meteorological balloons from NovaLynx Corporation. We used their 300 gm sounding balloons. The balloon was taller than I am before we inflated it.

We rented a medium helium tank from a local party supply store. The nozzle was smaller than we needed, so we used rubber bands and fingers to secure the balloon while we inflated it. Even so, we lost some Helium. We inflated the balloons to between 3 and 4.5 feet in diameter, so they would have room to expand as they got higher.

We picked a day to launch on which the jetstream had strong winds over Michigan. We used the jetstream map at the California Regional Weather Server.

More photos of the launch are here.

Even More Pat's photos of the launch are here.

Another weather balloon launch

On October 1, 2005 we tried again, but had many more problems.

Our most recent weather balloon launch happened on October 15, 2005. This time we used parachutes.