Weather Waste: Beached Balloons Stir Anger

After the first one, Andrew Johnson was curious. After a few more, he was annoyed. After more than a dozen, he was angry.

Johnson has found at least 17 weather balloons and/or their associated components washed up on the shores of Lake Michigan in Benzie and Leelanau counites in recent months. The balloons carry an instrument known as a radiosonde and belong to the National Weather Service (NWS), a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The radiosondes carried by these balloons are used to collect valuable data high in the upper atmosphere, and officials say they play a key role in understanding and predicting weather. But regardless of how useful they may be, Johnson and others are upset to find so many of the large and heavy balloons on scenic beaches. Many have been damaged and are breaking into pieces – including cords, thick balloon rubber, plastic and styrofoam components – making the problem even worse.

“It’s just a ton of trash,” Johnson tells The Ticker. “Trash is trash, it’s litter, and if anyone like you or I were do that, we’d get a huge fine.”

Johnson, a Lake Ann resident who runs a local landscaping company, spends a lot of time on the beach picking rocks and recreating with his family in all four seasons. He recently found five devices in varying conditions on a single walk near Northport.

“They’re very heavy for a balloon. And there are parachutes attached to them, there’s a little plastic cord that’s attached with a zip tie around a styrofoam casing,” he says. “You add all that up together, they’re probably five pounds on the lower end. They are sizeable objects.”

The balloons carry an inscription that says they are not dangerous and instructs finders to “recycle or dispose of properly.” Johnson has disposed of all he’s found and gets particularly upset when he thinks about all the balloons he’s not finding.

“With all I’m seeing, how many are going into the water and sinking? How many are going into the woods?” he says. “We’re not talking about a few. These things are all over. It's a really depressing thought to think about much more litter is out there that we're not seeing."

He cited at least one instance in which he found a bird that appeared to be ensared in one of these balloons. 

Cheri Radu is an avid photographer and rock hunter who also spends a lot of time on local beaches. Like Johnson, she’s found several on Leelanau County beaches in recent times.

“It’s very frustrating to me when we are expected to do our part to conform to rules and regulations when properly disposing of hazardous waste, but the government is not,” she tells The Ticker.  “NOAA marks these packs as not hazardous, which is not true. Everything this pack is made of has some level of toxicity to it. When I find dead waterfowl along the beaches and the cause of death is the entanglement in the lines, or ingestion of debris, it just angers me more.”

Michael Musher, a public affairs specialist and meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told The Ticker via email that no one would be available to speak via phone before the deadline for this story. He did, however, provide a written statement:

“The National Weather Service has been flying weather balloons since the 1930s to capture data in the upper atmosphere that we cannot get in any other way. This data is critical for weather model performance and forecast accuracy.

Technology has come a long way in the last 80 plus years, and we have made significant progress to reduce environmental impacts. We have reduced the amount of material used in balloon construction by about 20 percent in the last 10 years, and radiosondes weigh four ounces or less today, compared to 2 pounds in the 1990s. Today, balloons are made with a natural, biodegradable latex, and the parachute and string are biodegradable over time. 

We encourage individuals who find the radiosonde equipment to locally dispose in accordance with local ordinances. Strong winds aloft often cause radiosondes to land more than 100 miles away from the offices that launch them. The National Weather Service will continue to find ways to reduce environmental impacts and work closely with our consumables vendors for more biodegradable materials.”