Tag: weather

Why won’t my balloon fly?

The weather conditions have to fit a very precise set of criteria before a hot air balloon ride can take place.

Three times a friend and I have booked a hot air balloon flight and each time it’s been cancelled because of the weather. I knew when I first bought the voucher for this that balloons are dependent on the weather, but I didn’t realise just how perfect the weather has be.

Wind, rain, storms, temperature and visibility all affect whether the balloon can be flown and some even affect whether or not it can be inflated.

Wind

  • The optimum speed for a balloon flight is 4-6 miles per hour.
  • The balloon is inflated with cold air using a fan. The fabric of the balloon is basically a giant sail and winds over 6 miles per hour can make it difficult to fill the balloon. The wind will cave the side of the balloon in and cause it to roll around and drag anything it may be attached to. This can damage the balloon and basket as well causing harm to participants.
  • The wind has to be blowing in the right direction – the balloon can’t be steered in a particular direction and so the pilot has to be sure it won’t be blown into an area that could be unsafe or where there aren’t any suitable landing sites. Unsuitable areas include: built-up areas; wooded areas; large bodies of water; and restricted air space.
  • Once airborn, if the wind speed is less than 4 miles per hour, the balloon won’t really go anywhere. If it is more than 6 miles per hour, it can be blown off course, over-reach the landing place, and will also need more space to land. The basket may bounce along the ground, eventually tipping over, before the balloon comes to a standstill. A balloon doesn’t have brakes and relies on the friction caused between the basket and the ground to slow it down and bring it to a stop. The balloon will be travelling at whatever speed the wind is. The stronger the wind the more friction will need to be built to bring it to a standstill and the further the balloon will need to travel along the ground.
  • Just because the wind seems ideal at ground level, doesn’t mean it’s not blowing a lot faster higher up. The pilot will not only check the wind speeds at ground level and at the level you will be flying at, but also wind speeds much higher up as these could drop to the flying level during the flight, or cause other problems such as turbulance.

Fronts

  • There must be no fronts in the area where the balloon is being launched and flown. Fronts usually come with a change in wind direction or increased wind speeds.

Visibility

  • Balloons do not fly at night or in fog.
  • There needs to be at least 1-3 miles visibility depending on the area and the hazards and the terrain.



Rain

  • Rain can damage the balloon as well as decreasing visibility.

Storms

  • There must be no thunderstorms within 100 miles of the launch point.
  • Thunderstorms present hazards to any type of aircraft, but balloons are affected most of all. A plane can turn around and fly away from a storm; a balloon will get sucked in to it.
  • Not only is there the chance of lightning striking the balloon, but gusts of wind can occur up to 100 miles away from a storm.

Temperature

  • Hot air is lighter than cold air and so rises. The air inside the balloon is heated and this causes the balloon to rise up through the colder outside air. If it is very warm outside it may not be possible to heat the inside of the balloon to a temperature that is sufficiently higher than the outside temperature.



So there you have it. With the weather needing to be SO perfect, it’s a wonder anyone ever gets to go on a balloon flight at all.

Is the weather worse when indoors?

Getting philosophical about the weather

Is the weather better when I sleep in a tent?

People shudder and say ‘but aren’t you cold and wet all the time?’ when I tell them I’m going to Scotland or wherever and I’m going to spend weeks in my tent. I usually respond with something along the lines of ‘but when you’re outdoors the whole time you don’t notice the weather’.

Having spent this Scottish trip so far sleeping in my van, I’ve started to elaborate on this ‘theory’. When I’m all snug in my van and it’s windy or rainy or just looks cold outside I’m really unmotivated to go out and do anything. I just want to stay snuggled up in my sleeping bag. But once I get out I realise the weather is nowhere near as bad as it seemed. Even what sounded like heavy rain from inside the van is usually no more than a few drops once I’m out in it.

So I’ve changed my theory slightly. Instead of thinking that when I’m outdoors the whole time I don’t notice the weather, I’ve realised that actually the weather doesn’t seem that noticeable because it’s really not that bad. It just seems worse than it is when I’m snug inside.

So when I’m at home or wherever I happen to be indoors, if I’m put off going out because it seems so bad outside I now know that actually it’s just an illusion and in reality it’s not that bad at all.

Earthquakes and weather

Iceland has a lot of weather. It also has a lot of earthquakes.

Iceland has a lot of weather.

The local joke is that if you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes and it will change. In summer this is true. I would be hot and cold in the same day; have rain, hail, wind, sun and fog all within the space of a few hours.

However, in the winter the weather seems a bit more stable, though as I was only there for a week and a half maybe I didn’t get a true picture. Most days it was cold and snowy with clear blue skies in between the snow showers.

I can understand though, why Iceland would need a pretty good met office with a pretty good website. However, the Icelandic met office website excels itself by also doubling as an earthquake website. There is a whole section of the website devoted to earthquakes and they constantly have a list showing the biggest earthquakes that have occurred in the last 48 hours. Yes. The biggest earthquakes that have occurred in the last 48 hours. There are that many.

One was felt by some of the guests in the hostel whilst I was there, but I didn’t feel anything. So I missed out on adding ‘experiencing an earthquake’ to the list of things I did on my holiday. (I have felt tremors before in Manchester, so I wasn’t too upset to miss out). But this is a cool website for anyone going to Iceland.