Florida meteorologists clear up how weather balloons work as curiosity grows

RUSKIN, Fla. - High altitude "objects" and balloons are grabbing headlines, with the U.S. shooting down four in the last week. But how many objects are floating above at any given moment, for legitimate purposes? 

Weather researchers say there's actually a lot in the upper atmosphere, but we would rarely notice. For example, the National Weather Service releases multiple weather balloons per day from their offices in Florida and across the country. 

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FOX 13 visited the NWS station in Ruskin on Monday where meteorologists release at least two high altitude weather balloons every day. They travel upwards of 100,000 feet collecting weather data like temperature, dew point, wind speed and more. 

"Here in Florida, there are six of us in this particular area that do it," said Meteorologist Christianne Pearce. 

Those six sites launch twice a day, at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. There are 100 such sites in the country. That's a lot of balloons launching daily.

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The balloons also come down daily. Pearce said their balloons are designed to expand as they climb in altitude.

"They'll get bigger and bigger as they get higher in the atmosphere. Once they reach a certain spot they basically burst, and really they disintegrate," Pearce said.

At their peak, NWS's balloons reach 33,000 meters (100,000 feet) above the ground. That's three times the altitude of a commercial airplane.

The weather balloons are equipped with sensors and are a key part of forecasting. Depending on the wind, they can be pushed as far north as northern Florida or potentially over the Atlantic Ocean.

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What these other headline-grabbing objects are – meanwhile – is still up for debate. 

"If it is nefarious, it's psychological. [That] is what they're looking for to scare us, not to gather intelligence. There's better modalities to gather intel," said Ron Holloway, a former special agent and senior adviser at the U.S. State Department. 

As the military shoots the unknown objects out of the sky, NWS said there's no need to target their balloons.