Launching a weather balloon in a snow storm isn't glamorous
A hapless scientist struggled to launch a weather balloon in the middle of a blizzard sweeping through Rapid City, South Dakota Wednesday.
This National Weather Service (NWS) video shows a technician attempting to launch a balloon amid fierce winds – and losing a glove in the process.
“It’s a video of the standard balloon launch we do twice a day here," the NWS told Storyful.
“Just so happened it was icy and windy and the string attached to the balloon got tangled up around the arm prior to launch.”
Video of the launch has since gone viral, racking up thousands of views and shares.
Despite the bumpy launch, the weather balloon expedition was a success, the NWS said in a tweet.
"In case anyone is curious, the data from our earlier "fun" ballon launch turned out just fine and made it in time for the 00Z model runs," NWS went on to say.
The data the balloon collected can be found here.
