How do weather stations predict the weather?
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Have you ever looked up at the stars and wondered, is there life on other planets? From Disney and Pixar. Welcome to the community-verse. Allow me to adjust your gravity. Oh, I'm fine. Gravity off. Are not alone. Are you gonna eat me? Ew, what kind of alien are you? Disney and Pixar's Elio, rated PG. Parental guidance suggested. Only in theaters June 20th. Tickets available now.

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Honk, honk! I call this meeting to order, fellow geese. It has been honked to my attention that when we migrate every year in our big gaggles... It's a flock, Gary. Excuse me? Honk? It's a gaggle of geese when we're on the ground. When we're in the sky, it's a flock. Any honk. Where was I? When we migrate every year in our flocks...

The Doppler radars that humans have set up to help them predict the weather, well, our big geese group shows up on their radars. Yes, I know. It's quite thrilling. I propose that this year we do something really special for the radar. Give those humans a good show. Let's fly in a special formation that will really read on the radar. Give them something to honk about. Hmm.

How about we fly in the shape of a donut? Humans love donuts. That's true, Gavin. They certainly do. Maybe the shape of a phone? They love staring at those things. Another valid suggestion, Gale. Ooh, wait. I've got it. A V. Why a V? To show the humans that geese are valuable. Visionary! Victorious!

Very good! Valiant! Honk! A flying V it is!

You're listening to Brains On from APM Studios. I'm your host, Molly Bloom, and my co-host today is Pedro from San Diego, California. Hi, Pedro. Hi, Molly. Brains On is a nonprofit public radio program, which means we rely on support from our listeners to keep the show going. There's lots of ways you can support the show. You can donate, become a SmartyPath subscriber, buy our merch, or come see us live. Hey, Pedro, how are you doing?

Head to brainson.org slash fans to help support us. Thank you! I am super excited to be co-hosting with you today, Pedro. Me too. And today, we're answering this excellent question sent to us by Max from Sharpsburg, Georgia. He wrote, how do weather stations predict the weather?

Um, Molly, is that sound coming from your phone? Oh, oops, yep. That's my Wafformations app. Your what app? Weather Affirmations. It sends me weather updates combined with affirmations. You know, positive statements that help you feel good. Here, listen.

Let the snow flurries dance on the westward winds howl. You are a cozy fortress of warmth and cheer. No gust or flake can rattle your spirit. Snow flurries? I'm definitely not wearing enough sweaters today. How many sweaters are you wearing? Four, and a sweater vest on top to pull my look together. Anyway, my Wafformations weather app says it should warm up by the end of the week.

So, Pedro, I'm wondering, do you keep track of what the weather's going to be like? No. I used to have an Apple Watch on me and I used to check, but not anymore. Do your parents use a weather app? Yeah. Yeah? Do they tell you, like, oh, Pedro, please put on a rain jacket or please wear a sweater or anything like that? They always make me wear a jacket. Okay, so they're checking the weather for you, it sounds like.

What is your favorite kind of weather? Probably the type of weather that doesn't make me have to go to school. So do you have a least favorite kind of weather? Sometimes I don't like going up to the snow and the mountains because sometimes it gets inside my boots and sometimes, and it wets my socks and it's so cold that I have to take it off.

Oh, yes. Okay, so you're not a snow fan. So near San Diego, are there mountains you go to? Yeah. Cool. And so up there, you can actually feel like wintry, snowy weather. Yeah. Well, that's fun. So you get like the nice, sunny weather of San Diego, and then you can go to winter if you want.

No matter how you or your parents get their weather info, if you live in the United States, that information originally came from something called the National Weather Service. Right. If you watch the weather forecast on the local news, read it online, check a weather app, ask Siri or Alexa or any other robot helper, or get a warning that a tornado is on the way, all that information originally comes from the National Weather Service.

Without the National Weather Service, the forecasts as we know them would not exist. And if you live somewhere outside the U.S., your country probably has its own version of this. The National Weather Service is the only official weather forecaster in the United States. And they provide more than a million forecasts every year for cities all over the country. These forecasts are based on data that the National Weather Service collects at weather stations.

Weather stations are buildings with special equipment for watching weather patterns and trying to figure out what will happen next. There are 122 weather stations spread out all over the U.S. and even in other parts of the world.

When we're not at Brains On headquarters, the Brains On team is also spread out all around the country. So a few of us visited our own local weather stations to learn more about how they make their predictions. Our pal, Nico Gonzalez-Whistler, visited a weather station in Mount Holly, New Jersey, and they're here to tell us about it. Hi, Nico. Hi, Molly. Hi, Pedro. So what was the weather station like? Well, the station I visited keeps track of parts of New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.

I talked with some meteorologists. That's another word for someone who studies the weather. The meteorologists at this station work around the clock to create forecasts and put out weather alerts.

A lot of this is done using satellite and radar. Oh yeah, I've heard of those. Weather satellites are up in space high above the Earth's surface. And these satellites have special equipment on them to measure temperature, cloud cover, and lots of other things in our atmosphere. And some have cameras pointed at the Earth that can take pictures every 30 seconds. It's a good thing Earth isn't camera shy. Right.

People also use radar to study and predict the weather. These are on the ground. There are radar stations all across the U.S. They're usually made up of a tall tower with a big white globe-looking thing on top of it. Look, here's a picture of one of them. To me, they kind of look like giant ping pong balls. Ooh, they do look like that. These radar stations work by sending out radio waves.

Radio waves are a type of invisible energy that carries a lot of really cool information. If you have an old-fashioned radio at home or in your car, that uses radio waves to make sound. Exactly. In

In the case of radar, the radio waves bump into stuff in the air, like rain, snow, or hail, and then bounce back to the radar station. Oh, it sounds like how bats use echolocation. Yeah, echolocations is when bats make a high-pitched noise and it bounces off stuff around them. They can sense when that sound comes back to them and turn that information into a picture of the world. Bats use their echolocation to detect things like trees or tasty bugs.

and meteorologists use the radar information to tell where the storm is and what direction it's moving in. The radar tower that they use in Mount Holly sends information to a screen back in the weather station. When there are storms in the area, the screen will show big, almost cloud-shaped objects moving around.

Oh yeah, like the weather reports on TV. Right. At the weather station, there were a bunch of screens so that the meteorologists could look at different radar and satellite reports from all over the area. You see that there's like a very sharp edge here? Yes. That's the cold front that we're expecting later this week.

Okay, so you've got satellites in space and radar towers on the ground. Is that the only difference? Why do they use both? Well, they both give you really important information. When I looked at the radar image on the screen, I could only see parts of two states: New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

But the satellite in the sky showed those two states, plus New York, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. It's like a bird's eye view, if the bird was in space. One of the meteorologists at the weather station, Sarah Johnson, explained how it works. So when we're looking at a satellite, we're generally only looking at the tops of the clouds.

Whereas radar, we can be scanning at the bottom of the cloud, in the middle of the cloud, and even up at the top of the cloud. If you think about it this way, satellite is like taking a picture at the top of a cake and just looking at the top of the cake. Whereas radar is actually taking a slice of that cake and being able to see exactly how many layers of cake it is. Mmm, cake.

Because satellites show a larger area, they're helpful for monitoring storms that are approaching from farther away. Then, when the storms get closer, they can use the radar to get more information about what exactly the storm is doing. Wow, that is cool. Thank you for telling us about your trip, Nico. My pleasure. I gotta go start working on my super secret hot cocoa recipe. I hear it's supposed to snow this afternoon. Mmm, cocoa! Bye, Nico. Bye, you too.

Another way weather stations track weather is with balloons, and I got to go out and see one. We'll hear more about that in a bit, but first, it's time for the... You ready for the mystery sound, Pedro? Yeah. Okay, here it is.

What do you think? I think it's like one of those notebooks, like when you put a pencil in it and you just start going down the circle things, or you just do it with your finger. Okay, that's a really good guess. Should we hear it again and see if any other thoughts pop up? Yeah. Okay, here we go.

I think it's one of those doorknobs on the bottom of the door that starts doing that sound like when you move it around. Yeah, like a stopper that's on a spring and it can make that springy sound? Yeah. Hmm, that is a really good guess. I'm going to guess that it's someone dropping Tic Tacs on the floor. Oh. That's what it sounds like to me. We're going to find out and get another chance to guess after the credits. So stick around.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to float around in space? Well, you're in luck. We're making an episode about astronauts, and we want to know, what food do you think would be hardest for astronauts to eat in space? Flying peas? A bowl of cereal and milk?

There's so many possibilities. Pedro, what do you think? It would probably be hard eating a cookie. Yeah, why do you think it would be hard? Probably because when you're like chewing it, like in your mouth, it like floats around and it could hit the roof of your tongue and it'd be hard to putting it on the teeth to chew it. Good point. Also be really hard to dunk it in milk.

Well, listeners, we want to know what food you think would be hard to eat in space and why. Record your answer and send it to us at brainson.org slash contact. While you're there, send us your mystery sounds, drawings, and questions. Like this one. How do mood rings work? Find answers to questions like this on the Moment of Um podcast, a short dose of facts and fun every weekday. Find Moment of Um and more at brainson.org. And keep listening.

Brains On Universe is a family of podcasts for kids and their adults. Since you're a fan of Brains On, you'll love the other shows in our universe. Come on, let's explore. It's alien exercise! Hi-ya! Hoo-ha! While I stretch my snoodles and bounce on my trampolini, I'll listen to a new podcast. Ha-ha-ha!

I'm going to try... Smash Boom Best! The podcast ever! Tell us why Alice in Wonderland has such grand command. Drop the beat. Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed judge of Smash Boom Best...

I'd like to start with a few rhymes. Uh, yeah. Catch me in the rabbit hole, dazzled by a magic show. Zarp! Come back here, podcast. Must listen to Smash Boom Best. Listen to Smash Boom Best wherever you get your podcasts.

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You're listening to Brains On. I'm Pedro. And I'm Molly. Today we're talking all about weather stations and the equipment they use to predict the weather. We just heard all about radar and satellites. Both are super important for tracking and understanding storms. Satellites get a big bird's eye view of storms, and radar can tell us more about what's going on inside a storm.

Another way weather stations track the weather is with balloons. My Brains On buddy Rachel Brees and I drove about 30 minutes from my house to Chanhassen, Minnesota to see one. Is everything sounding good? Yeah. Okay, yeah. Yeah, let me know if I need to...

Brennan Detman is a meteorologist at the Chanhassen Weather Station. The office where he works has lots of computer monitors with maps and charts and graphs and video from live traffic cameras. But you weren't there for the screens, Molly. You are correct. We were there for the weather balloon.

Is it like a balloon animal, but instead of an elephant, it's a lightning bolt? That would be amazing, but no. It's just a really big balloon, like the ones you would blow up for a birthday party. But these balloons aren't colorful. They're usually white. And they aren't for decoration. They're important tools for weather stations. The Chanhassen Weather Station launches two balloons into the sky every day, one at 6 a.m. and one at 6 p.m. Here's our meteorologist friend, Brennan again.

So there are two main components to a weather balloon. So you have the first thing, which is the instrument that is measuring the data, which is called a radiosonde.

The radiosonde is a small white foam box, about as big as the palm of my hand. So what's it for? Good question. The radiosonde is really important. It has sensors on it for measuring different things way up in the air, like temperature, humidity. And then there's a pressure sensor in there, as well as a GPS tracker to allow us to determine wind speed and wind direction based on where the radiosonde is located.

And the way meteorologists get this radio sound box up into the sky is delightfully low-tech. They take a long piece of string, tie one end around the box and the other end to a balloon. Brennan took us to the garage where they fill the weather balloon with hydrogen gas. Hydrogen gas floats, just like the helium you put in party balloons. So the whole process will take about, once I start filling up, about 10 minutes.

It takes 10 minutes to fill up because it's a really big balloon. Bigger than an adult. But besides its giant size, it's really like any other latex balloon. While it's filling up, Brennan attaches a little orange parachute to the radiosonde box and then ties the radiosonde to the balloon with string. And now, it's launch time. So I go out away from the shelter there just to make sure it doesn't try to fly into the

the building and potentially pop or damage the instrument. And ready to go? Alright, 3, 2, 1.

The balloon zips up into the sky with the radio sonde attached. We can watch it for a ways, but soon enough, it's so small we can barely see it. Whoa! How high does it go? Really high. About 100,000 feet above the ground. That's three times higher than most big passenger planes. And as it goes up in the atmosphere, there's less pressure on the balloon, so it expands and gets even bigger, about as wide as a school bus.

That's a really big balloon. I know. It's wild. The balloon eventually expands so much that it pops. Then the radiosonde drifts back down to Earth with the help of its orange parachute.

And along the way, it's collecting data that would be really hard to get otherwise and sending it to the weather station. Weather balloons provide that critical data throughout the entire atmosphere. And all that data is then put into weather models to help improve forecasting. So it all kind of goes hand in hand, which is pretty cool. The radiosondes can land over 90 miles away from where they're first launched. The Weather Service doesn't worry about collecting them again because they're usually only used once.

But since the GPS data from these is public, there are some people who like to chase them down when they land. Kind of like a game. Listeners, if you want to see what the weather balloon looks like and watch the launch, we posted a video on our Instagram. We're at brains underscore on.

Now, from the air to the ocean. Because it turns out you can learn about the weather from the water, too. Our pal, Sandon Totten, visited a weather station on the coast of California. He went there to learn about weather buoys. A buoy is something that floats in water. And the National Weather Service uses them to track the waves. Oh, that must be Sandon. Oops, no, it's another weather update incoming from my Wafformations app.

The ice may coat the roads, but as always, you glide through with grace. No slip or slide can unsteady your stride. Ugh, icy roads. Well, at least I've got Vanilla Ice's greatest hits on cassette. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Molly, the weather buoys. Oh, sorry, right. I'm really into revisiting my youth through cassettes I find at secondhand stores right now. Anyway, let's hear what Sandin learned on his visit to that weather station.

Hey, Sandin here. I'm in Oxnard, California at the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, and I'm here with... Ryan Cattell. I am a meteorologist here. I get to study not just hydrometeors, which are like a

a fancy word for rain, but all sorts of weather and try to predict it and let everybody know about it. And the weather today, it's beautiful. We're standing outside. It's sunny, a little breezy, but we're in this really interesting place behind your office. I would say it kind of looks like a garden, but instead of like trees and plants, there's mostly these old trees

weather machine. So there's like poles with things spinning on them. It kind of feels like we're in a robot graveyard. What is this place? Oh, man, I haven't heard it put that way, but you're kind of right. Yeah, they're all retired weather equipment. So we have things from what's called an anemometer, which is used to measure the wind speed and direction and even some gauges that will collect rainfall and tell us how much rain is falling. But we also have weather buoys, which are displayed out here. They bob up and down.

There's a cool instrument inside of it, a sensor inside of it that's very similar to things on phones and Nintendo switches that can detect the way that you're tilting the controller. A similar type of instrument called an accelerometer that can actually detect when the buoy bobs up and down to tell how big the waves are. How would you describe these two round buoys in front of us?

They're in desperate need of a paint job. I'll describe it that way. There's paint peeling. They haven't really seen service for probably over 10 years. The ones that are out in the water actually look nicer. They're painted and well lit. And it really does help us to make better forecasts to predict how big these waves are. Because if you're on a boat, you don't want big waves because it's easy to get seasick. But it's also can be really dangerous. So if we know how big the waves are, we can alert people. And these buoys are really big tools for that.

They kind of look like, I would say, like really big Christmas ornaments.

Or maybe like that one's red on the bottom and white on the top. It kind of reminds me of a Pokeball. Do you play Pokemon at all? Do you know about Pokemon? I have three kids and they are all into Pokemon for sure. Yeah, that is it for the paint and color. It's a good description with the white on the top and the red on the bottom. They're big. They kind of look like those giant exercise balls sometimes people use to sit on or to do sit-ups on. Yeah, that's a great example. One of those big exercise balls. And then it has a light on the top.

because they're out in the waters where boaters are so that boaters can see it, especially at night, because otherwise it'd be really easy to run over and that's not good for anybody. They are anchored by a very heavy, long chain. Oh yeah, that is a beefy chain. It looks like something you'd chain up like a monster with maybe. It does. It definitely has that look. That's way too expensive.

These seem like they're pretty simple tools from what you're describing to me. They float in the water. They kind of have a little device inside them that measure how much they're tilting and how much they're going up and down. They have a light so that people see them. But where does that data go and how do they get it to you? So on top of these buoys are a radio antenna and that signal, the data gets transmitted through a radio frequency to receivers on the coast. They'll get that data. They'll

process it, and then they'll send it out to the world, including to our office. There's usually maybe a 10-minute delay, but it all happens pretty fast. What's powering all that inside the buoy? These particular ones actually have a really big battery. Some of them might have a solar panel, but they do have really large batteries, and they do have to get replaced regularly. Well, Ryan, this was so cool. Thank you so much for showing us all this. So glad you can come out. And thank you for your service, Retired Buoys.

There are all different ways that people track, measure, and predict the weather. Like radars, satellites, balloons, and buoys. And all of this different weather data is constantly being fed into giant supercomputers. Just like Superman is like...

10,000 times stronger than us regular people, supercomputers are like 10,000 times stronger than the computers we have at home or school. These computers take the data and make predictions about what the weather will do. The more data they have, the better the prediction will be. That's why the Weather Service uses so many different tools.

so that the computer can get the best possible picture of what's going on at sea, on land, and in the air. And because the National Weather Service is a public service, everybody can use these predictions. Like, for example, to make a weather-slash-daily-affirmations app. Not even this weekend's sun can outshine your brightness and warmth. A sunny day! Woohoo! Time to plan a picnic! ♪

The National Weather Service operates more than 100 separate weather stations. These stations make more than a million weather forecasts a year across the country. They make these forecasts using equipment like radar, satellites, weather balloons, and weather buoys. And they process it all by using the strongest computers in the world.

That's it for this episode of Brains On. This episode was written by... Nico Gonzalez-Whistler. Sandin Totten. And me, Molly Bloom. It was edited by... Shayla Farzan. We had engineering help from Eric Romani and Deborah Reeves with sound design by... Rachel Brees. And fact-checking by... Rebecca Rand. Original theme music by... Mark Sanchez.

We had production help from the rest of Reigns on Universe team. Rosie DuPont. Anna Goldfield. Ruby Guthrie. Lauren Humpert. Joshua Ray. Mark Sanchez. Charlotte Traver. Anna Weigel. And... Aran Woldesalasi. Beth Perlman is our executive producer, and the executives in charge of APM Studios are Chandra Kavati and Joanne Griffith.

Special thanks to Vinicius Crucero, Fabiano Marx, and Daniel Doctore. Brains On is a non-profit public radio program. There are lots of ways to support the show. Subscribe to Brains On Universe on YouTube where you can watch animated versions of some of your favorite episodes. Or head to BrainsOn.org. While you're there, you can send us mystery sounds, drawings, and questions. Okay, Pedro, are you ready to hear the mystery sound again? Yeah. All right, here it is.

What do you think? Now that I think of it, I think it's probably just coins dropping on the floor, like if I accidentally drop a coin while playing, like, Heads or Tails. Hmm, I like it, I like it. I know you like to play Heads and Tails a lot. That's one of your favorite things, right? Yeah. That's a great guess. Do we hear the answer? Yeah. My name is Camille, and I'm from SFO, California. That was the sound of mobiles dropping on the floor.

Oh, marbles dropping on the floor. Oh. You were not that far off. You thought something was dropping on the floor. Yeah. You just thought it was coins. I think we're giving ourselves partial credit for that, for sure. Yeah. Now it's time for the Brain's Honor Roll. These are the incredible kids who keep the show going with their questions, ideas, mystery sounds, drawings, and high fives.

Anthony from Seven Oaks, United Kingdom. Noelle from Menlo Park, California. Olivia from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Sophie from White Plains, New York. Ben from Redwood City, California. Sybil from Thornton, Colorado. Luna from Waltham, Massachusetts. Timmy from Boise, Idaho. Aiden from Yorktown Heights, New York. Caroline from Brooklyn, New York. Ida from Providence, Rhode Island. Silas from Alberta. Eli from Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. Oliver from Rochester Hills, Michigan. Fiona from Chicago. Faye from West Vancouver. Adeline from Minneapolis. Bo from Falls Village, Connecticut.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ivy and Kai from Bath, Maine. Holden from Toronto. Ethan and Daniel from Vancouver. James from Omaha. Jude from Panhandle, Florida. Emmy from Cheney, Pennsylvania. Jonathan from Severn Park, Maryland. Thomas from St. Charles, Illinois. Kelsey from San Francisco. Evie and Tori from Langley, British Columbia. Vera from Philadelphia. And Sylvie from Memphis, Tennessee. We'll be back next week with an episode all about what it's like to be an astronaut. Thanks for listening!