Good Balloon weather forecasting is not as simple as looking at a weather app or watching the meteorologists on local TV. We must view numerous sources of information to understand if conditions are good for ballooning. Even the official FAA Flight Service Stations can not provide reliable forecast conditions more than 24 in advance. So we take a tiered approach to planning for balloon flights. We use the sources below to get out as far as we can, then refine it in the last 24 hours before a planned flight.

​

National Weather Service winds in Smithfield           

NWS Surface Progs

NWS Prog Loop

NWS Aviation Weather plot                                      

--------------------------------

Blastvalve 3 Day Forecast for Wakefield 

Blastvalve 3 day Forecast for Suffolk

Blastvalve VA Forecast

--------------------------------

Ryan Carlton Winds aloft Forecast Suffolk          

SKEW-T log-P for AKQ