TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Students and staff at Tallahassee's Roberts Elementary School returned from winter break Tuesday by watching an engaging science lesson on the school's P.E. field.
As part of a traveling STEM lesson effort funded in part by the Foundation for Leon County Schools, a weather balloon was inflated Tuesday morning, set to rise tens of thousands of feet into the air carrying global positioning tracking equipment and a durable camera.
The school population gathered on the basketball field in the morning cool air to witness the liftoff.
The demonstration was designed to expose students to scientific concepts of air pressure, airborne travel, and atmospheric changes.
First Alert Chief Meteorologist Casanova Nurse was on hand to help in the launch. He gave a brief presentation about the use of weather balloons and the data gathered from them following the launch in the school cafeteria.
The balloon and its platform is estimated to have reached a peak altitude of 86,000 feet before its descent into the western Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Jacksonville, where it was not able to be recovered.
If you are a teacher or coordinator of a civic organization and would like to have Casanova or another First Alert meteorologist to speak to your group, email weather@wtxl.tv with your request.
