Private Companies Step up to Gather Weather Data for NOAA as Staffing Cuts Hobble Agency Forecasting

Inside Climate News · By Meg Wilcox · last updated August 1, 2025 – 1:03 AM

WindBorne Systems is one of several companies launching balloons, drones, buoys and other devices to provide critical data to the beleaguered agency’s National Weather Service, but they can’t fill all the gaps.

By Meg Wilcox

When staffing shortages caused the National Weather Service (NWS) to suspend weather balloon launches at its Kotzebue, Alaska, station earlier this year, a startup deploying next-generation weather balloons, WindBorne Systems, stepped up to fill the void.

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