Adirondack Balloon Flights Blog

Today, Wednesday afternoon looks good for doing a balloon ride. Rain returns overnight through much of Friday. It will not be raining all the time, but generally not flyable for us. Weather looks to improve just-in-time for the weekend with next rain forecast for early next week.

Currently the forecast advertises rain for today into early Wednesday. Then some improvement for Wednesday afternoon with rain returning for Wednesday evening through Thursday evening. Then improvement on Friday into the weekend, but with a slight chance of rain showers on Saturday afternoon. So for the week, that leaves us with possibility of doing hot air balloon rides on Wednesday afternoon, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Right now, rain may return by next Monday. Looks like mother nature is trying to balance-out our rain deficit that we’ve had this spring. We do have space available on most flights into the weekend, except for the Sunday AM balloon ride.

The flying weather going into the upcoming weekend looks good. The Friday PM flight weather is good as is Saturday morning. There is a front forecast to move through the area on Saturday afternoon that probably will impact the afternoon flying weather. Sunday morning looks good and the afternoon is unsure at this time as forecast models are not in agreement on the timing of the next weather system. Monday at this time is a maybe with unsettled weather forecast for much of the first half of next week. We have plenty of space available on most flights this weekend and next week. Pick your day and make a reservation.

This week brings a mixed bag of fast moving weather systems moving through the region. Currently, we have a slight chance for rain showers late today, with a greater chance overnight into early Tuesday morning. Then a clearing with weak high pressure for Tuesday, possibly flyable for the late afternoon flight with rain returning for early Wednesday morning throughout the day. The weather improves again on Thursday, with the best flying weather most likely on Friday and early Saturday. Currently the balance of the upcoming weekend’s forecast is uncertain with forecast computer models not in agreement on the timing of a chance of rain moving back in sometime late Saturday into Sunday. Weather updates will be posted as the week moves along. We do have space available for all flights this week and on the upcoming weekend. So pick one of the nice days for your flight and give us a call or send us an email to make a reservation!

Well, this past weekend was a bust for us for being able to do a flight because of weather conditions. I did notice though, that one of the younger local balloon pilots did choose to fly on Saturday morning between rain showers. We canceled our Saturday morning passenger flight due to a forecast of rain showers in the flight area around flight-time and the wet conditions from rain, plus a potential of limited visibility in fog. The day started with one area of rain departing to the east, and another approaching from the west. The morning aviation forecast advertised rain showers to be in the vicinity during flight-time. The morning forecast discussion (a discussion between meteorologists from different NWS offices on their interpretation of computer forecast modeling data and observed weather at the forecast station location-or how they arrived at their official station forecast) posted at 4:30 AM by the National Weather Service in Albany spoke of an approaching area of heavy rain with potential thunder just to the west, a temporary clearing  between the departing and approaching areas of rain but also a possibility of limited visibility in fog due to wet ground conditions from rain. Back in the day, we called flying windows like these sucker holes, and accidents waiting to happen. With today’s improved forecasting due to satellites and computer modeling, plus the availability of real time data from the Internet, it’s still up to the pilot to make an informed decision whether to fly or not, and how much of a chance they want to take based on their personal knowledge and experience level. We have seen in the news recently how knowledge and experience can be a factor in flight decisions made by pilots with the NTSB investigation into the causes of the Continental Commuter crash of Flight 3407 near Buffalo, compared to the successful water landing of US Air Flight 1549 last January. Experience does count!