JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- As Hurricane Florence churns in the Atlantic, Jaguars fans are wondering how Sunday's game will turn out.
The National Weather Service in Jacksonville and the Duval County Emergency Operations Center both have teams in a booth at every Jaguars game and big event at TIAA Bank Field to make sure the thousands of people packed inside aren't impacted by severe weather.
To determine those weather impacts, the NWS has a tool that's been in use since the 1930s that detects wind speed, direction, pressure, moisture and temperature in the air, data that can be used to determine a simple foggy day or to forecast a major hurricane.
Scott Cordero is the meteorologist in charge at the NWS in Jacksonville. He has to follow certain steps meticulously, even down to the second, to launch the weather balloon accurately and on time.
"We put it on the nozzle, we have to make sure it’s tight or it will blow all over the place and then I turn on the tank," said Cordero.
He says the balloon goes about six miles up into the Earth's atmosphere and can expand as big as a two-story building.
Meteorologists around the globe are doing this exact process at the same time. It's a coordinated effort.
"So we get a common snapshot all around the globe," Cordero said.
The balloon collects information under the clouds that a satellite can’t reach.
After preparing the balloon for launch over the course of an hour, Cordero attaches a GPS tracking device. If he launches even a second early from the designated universal time lined up around the world, he’d have to start over.
The launches happen twice a day around the globe, but with hurricane Florence in the Atlantic, he says they’re doing it four times a day, at least until Thursday.
This will be information he uses when he’s in their booth at Sunday’s football game when the Jaguars play the Patriots.
As of now, he says, it could be a scorcher.
"Actually it’s probably more important for fans to hydrate during that time," he said
The data from the balloon is collected in real time once it's launched and then new models are formed and distributed, keeping the world up to date, especially when a hurricane is quickly approaching.
While he expects Sunday's game to be dry and in the 90s, he says the balloon launches over the weekend will keep them apprised of any changes and they will be at the game no matter what to track it even more precisely.