'We are missing data': NWS weather balloon changes scrutinized as tornados hit Midwest

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

April 16, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT / Updated April 16, 2026, 2:32 PM EDT


A tornado outbreak near Kansas City, Kansas, on Monday night came as a surprise. At least three injuries were reported after at least five tornadoes developed in areas southwest of the city. Several homes were damaged, trees were downed and recreational vehicles were overturned.

But in its Monday afternoon outlook, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center, which forecasts severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, did not anticipate a tornado threat for the Kansas City area. The disconnect has prompted concerns among some outside meteorologists that ongoing changes to staffing and weather balloon releases at the agency might be leaving forecasters in the dark about threats.

Many forecasting offices in the Great Plains did not launch weather balloons at 7 a.m. Monday, as they have for decades, and instead they released the balloons at noon — a change that several meteorologists think was made because of staffing issues.

“We are missing data at the normal times,” said Chris Vagasky, a meteorologist and research manager at the Wisconsin Environmental Mesonet, a statewide network of weather monitoring stations. He added that the staggered balloon launches Monday left a “big area over the southern Plains in the central United States without that weather balloon data, which might have caused the models to not forecast the day’s activity as well as it could have.”

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/tornadoes/tornadoes-kansas-concerns-changes-national-weather-service-rcna331826

[wcmagumba]

1. Trump and his cuts...money went for his war instead...

[PSPS]

3. Money eventually went into his pockets and those of his family and donors.

[wnylib]

8. I look forward to Trump getting caught in a tornado

during a Midwestern rally due to inadequate warnings caused by staffing shortages.

Karma.

[Skittles]

2. repukes don't believe in climate change

and increasingly it would seem they are not big fans of accurate weather reports either......imagine that

[DSandra]

4. NWS should be sued

Incompetence hurts and eventually kills people.

[wcmagumba]

5. I think it was that their funding for the weather balloons was cut by Trump and his administration.

So they lost the funds they were using for equipment and people and such...

[Cheezoholic]

6. Its not their fault so no way. The money cuts this year and last are so bad many offices arent even staffed after 5pm

Leaving surrounding offices to try and pick up the slack. I really don't understand you're statement.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. It's not the meterologists or other scientists there

it's the funding cuts to the equipment that is needed to collect atmospheric data to feed the forecast models. Less data gathered = less accurate forecasts.

The major models are run 4 times a day (hi-resolution convective ones being most important and those are run every hour) and without the most current data, there is more "guessing" going on.

[HighFired49]

9. Exactly right..leaving meteorologists blind without data.

I live in central Oklahoma, and I can guarantee that the meteorologists here were really upset about missing data from various areas during those storms, especially in Kansas. Weather here very often moves into Kansas, and weather conditions there affect those storms' movements here.

One of our tv meteorologists was trying to give a tornado update and mentioned missing data at several places where the storms were moving into Kansas. He said he would try to keep the most recent information coming, but only as far as possible since his responsibilities ended at the Oklahoma border and, he didn't have their weather information. He was very unhappy about the whole situation.

This has got to be fixed, as it intentionally puts people's lives and property at risk, sometimes in huge areas with thousands of homes, businesses, and lives. But then, when does he worry about small stuff like that? Maybe that will happen if one of his big donor's property or business gets wiped out.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. SPC - Norman, OK FTW

I remember last year when a couple tornadoes popped up right near Norman.