I really hate to keep posting ugly little text files, but my private life is still in shambels, and so it is what it is. Anyway, i was looking at the weather and trying to figure out my plan for the day, and i got thinking about the recent big flash flood in Texas, and it made me think of how aweful weather prediction has become under Trump. It is definitely noticable to me, as someone who works outdoors alot. Anyway, here are some excerpts from my morning reading based on a google search about "weather balloons vs airplane data"(i have been told by a pilot friend[my dad] that airplane data can substitue for weather balloons):

google AI summary: "Weather balloons and airplanes both collect atmospheric data, but they serve different purposes and have distinct advantages and disadvantages. Weather balloons, specifically those carrying radiosondes, provide detailed vertical profiles of temperature, humidity, wind speed, and direction, especially at higher altitudes. Airplanes, on the other hand, offer more frequent and geographically diverse data collection, particularly in areas with high air traffic, but may not provide the same level of vertical detail as balloons"

source:

https://www.ssec.wisc.edu/news/articles/13920  2021

"It may be little known, but some 3500 commercial airplanes worldwide are equipped with external sensors that make atmospheric measurements on their cross-country or global journeys. Measurements like wind speed and temperature are important for safe air travel, but others, like moisture, do not provide an immediate operational benefit to aviation. They do, however, play an important role in producing weather forecasts that the industry relies on.

With its central role in Earth’s weather and climate, moisture, or water vapor, evaporates from the surface and condenses to form clouds which then release precipitation in a global and continuous cycle. How much water vapor is in the atmosphere, and where, is a crucial component of numerical weather prediction...

...Despite the fairly large radiosonde network in the US, the locations are often spaced too far apart, especially when forecasters are analyzing mesoscale features of developing storms — storms that may span up to 1000 kilometers. In these larger storms, environmental conditions on one side of the storm boundary might be different than those where the balloon launch occurred, says Williams. These differences can impact the accuracy of forecasts

To help collect more frequent data, about 150 commercial aircraft — operated by United Parcel Service and Southwest Airlines in the US — have been equipped with a specialized Water Vapor Sensing System. Coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay program, the arrangement makes data freely available to researchers and meteorological agencies worldwide

Altogether, the aircraft transmit about 900 profiles each day that are more frequent and at a greater density than those of the US radiosonde network. In addition, aircraft take measurements every 100 meters during ascent and every 300 meters during descent and at cruising altitude. The result is a robust set of measurements of the boundary layer — the atmospheric layer closest to the surface where most weather occurs — as well as tropospheric measurements..."

https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/weather-balloon#:~:text=Weather%20data%20collected%20from%20the%20atmosphere%20(beginning,and%20direction%2C%20atmospheric%20pressure%2C%20and%20geopotential%20height.

"Weather data collected from the atmosphere (beginning at three meters above the Earth's surface) are considered weather balloon or upper air data. These data are obtained from radiosondes, which are instrument packages tethered to balloons that are launched from the ground, ascend through the troposphere into the stratosphere, and transmit back to a receiving station on the ground.

These observations include vertical profiles of temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure, and geopotential height..."

https://windbornesystems.com/blog/how-windbornes-self-flying-weather-balloons-navigate-the-sky-to-sense-the-globe

"The first version of an unmanned weather balloon was invented more than 200 years ago. However, until WindBorne, weather balloons have faced critical limitations.

Traditional weather balloons, including those most commonly used around the world today, are limited to flying and collecting atmospheric data solely above their point of launch; these single-use balloons can fly just for a few hours before popping and coming back down. This means that these traditional balloons can’t collect data over oceans or in remote places without extreme difficulty and cost. 

WindBorne turned the paradigm of atmospheric collection on its head. Instead of relying on single-use balloons that can only collect data over a brief, single vertical path, the WindBorne teams spent nearly a decade developing a one-of-a-kind smart, long duration weather balloon, which we call the Global Sounding Balloon (GSB), that gathers high-quality data for key weather metrics such as pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction. This data is critical to informing weather forecasts of all kinds (physics-based and AI forecasts), and to forming a strong, real-time understanding of the current state of weather and the environment.

While our balloons are long-duration, they’re the lightest and most sustainable balloons on the planet. Our balloons have traveled for more than 40 days, even double circumnavigating the globe. Our smart balloons navigate the sky by creating and following dynamic flight paths to complete their individual missions.

How does our proprietary self-flying system work? 

Here’s a breakdown of what happens under-the-hood from pre-flight through navigation:..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_balloon

"A weather balloon, also known as a sounding balloon, is a balloon (specifically a type of high-altitude balloon) that carries instruments to the stratosphere to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed by means of a small, expendable measuring device called a radiosonde. To obtain wind data, they can be tracked by radar, radio direction finding, or navigation systems (such as the satellite-based Global Positioning System, GPS). Balloons meant to stay at a constant altitude for long periods of time are known as transosondes. Weather balloons that do not carry an instrument pack are used to determine upper-level winds and the height of cloud layers. For such balloons, a theodolite or total station is used to track the balloon's azimuth and elevation, which are then converted to estimated wind speed and direction and/or cloud height, as applicable.

Weather balloons are launched around the world for observations used to diagnose current conditions as well as by human forecasters and computer models for weather forecasting. Between 900 and 1,300 locations around the globe do routine releases, typically two or four times daily.[1][2][3][4]..."

https://wpo.noaa.gov/unlocking-a-treasure-trove-of-aircraft-data/

"Research reveals direct measurements of wind and temperature from aircraft provide the highest valued inputs into Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models compared to weather balloon radiosondes, satellites, and ground-based, weather observing stations. However, aircraft data has its shortcomings including data spareness, clustering around major airports, and relatively high latency, which constrains its full potential to benefit the weather enterprise. This project demonstrates a low-cost, innovative system that has the ability to pull meteorological data, including wind and temperature, from aircraft equipped with Mode S Enhanced Surveillance (EHS) transponders in real-time. This standalone system presents several advantages over current methods such as low latency on the order of seconds and the compatibility with 75% of commercial aircraft, as well as smaller aircraft to significantly increase the number of observations both horizontally across the CONUS domain and vertically through the atmosphere."

https://www.weather.gov/gjt/education_corner_balloon

"The National Weather Service (NWS) uses multiple platforms to observe the weather: Doppler radar, satellite, aircraft observations, automated surface observation stations, etc.  However, the weather balloon remains the best platform for observing temperature, wind, relative humidity, and pressure above the ground. Weather balloons carry an instrument called a radiosonde which is tracked by specialized ground equipment. The NWS at Grand Junction, CO conducts rawinsonde observations at least twice a day. Balloons are launched at our office at 5 AM and 5 PM MDT and 4 AM and 4 PM MST. Weather balloons are simultaneously launched at 91 other NWS offices across the United States. Special weather balloon flights are occasionally launched to observe the latest state of the atmosphere ahead of significant weather or to conduct research. The special upper air observations are usually launched at 12 PM/AM MDT and 11 PM/AM MST. The NWS has been flying weather balloons since the 1930s. The data collected by these weather balloon flights are critical for weather model performance and forecast accuracy..."

https://www.weather.gov/rah/virtualtourballoon

"The weather we experience on the ground is produced by dynamic processes that take place throughout the atmosphere. Much like a surface weather observation to record the weather, we need to know what is taking place through the entire depth of the atmosphere. For over 60 years, upper air observations have been made by the National Weather Service (NWS) with radiosondes. Additional information is available at the NWS Upper-air Observations Program web site. In North Carolina, radiosondes are launched twice daily from Greensboro and Morehead City.  Other nearby locations where radiosondes are launched include Charleston, South Carolina and Blacksburg, Virginia.

The radiosonde is a small, expendable instrument package that is suspended below a six foot wide balloon filled with hydrogen or helium. As the radiosonde rises at about 1,000 feet/minute (300 meters/minute), sensors on the radiosonde measure profiles of pressure, temperature, and relative humidity. These sensors are linked to a battery powered transmitter that sends the measurements to a ground receiver. By tracking the position of the radiosonde in flight, information on wind speed and direction aloft is also obtained. Observations where winds aloft are also obtained are called "rawinsonde" observations.

The radiosonde flight can last in excess of two hours, and during this time the radiosonde can ascend to over 115,000 feet (35,000 meters) and drift more than 125 miles (200 km) from the release point. During the flight, the radiosonde is exposed to temperatures as cold as -130ºF (-92ºC) and an air pressure only a few thousandths of what is found on the Earth's surface.

At liftoff the balloon is around 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Because the pressure lessens as the balloon goes higher in the atmosphere, the balloon expands. By the time the balloon reaches 100,000 feet it has grown to the height of a two story building. When the balloon has expanded beyond its elastic limit and bursts, a small parachute slows the descent of the radiosonde, minimizing the danger to lives and property.

Only about 20 percent of the approximately 75,000 radiosondes released by the NWS each year are found and returned to the NWS for reconditioning. These rebuilt radiosondes are used again, saving the NWS the cost of a new instrument. If you find a radiosonde, follow the mailing instructions printed on the side of the instrument..."

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...also worth looking at(not from google AI)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth#/media/File:Earth's_atmosphere.svg

note: 
jets 6-12km
weather balloons 40km

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cloud_types

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cloud_types#/media/File:Cloud_types_en.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troposphere

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atmosphere_layers-en.svg

up to 18 km in tropics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratosphere

up to 50km

"The stratosphere is a region of intense interactions among radiative, dynamical, and chemical processes, in which the horizontal mixing of gaseous components proceeds much more rapidly than does vertical mixing. The overall circulation of the stratosphere is termed as Brewer-Dobson circulation, which is a single-celled circulation, spanning from the tropics up to the poles, consisting of the tropical upwelling of air from the tropical troposphere and the extra-tropical downwelling of air. Stratospheric circulation is a predominantly wave-driven circulation in that the tropical upwelling is induced by the wave force by the westward propagating Rossby waves, in a phenomenon called Rossby-wave pumping. "

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i don't know if it is signifacant that the deathtoll in texas is apporximately 2x-3x that from helene in NC last year, but it does appear to me that weather prediction seems impaired here in virginia, since trump "doged" noaa and nws this spring. in short yes, airplanes can provide useful data for weather prediction, but cutting funding for weather balloons is not smart.