Introduction

Welcome to BALLOONWX.US (Utah Balloon WX). My name is Tom Rathke and I have been flying hot air balloons for over 35 years. In that time I have mostly flown commercially and done a lot of fun flying including trying to find new areas to fly in remote areas of Utah. I have worked for a balloon manufacturer, owned and operated a scenic flight operation in Park City, UT (late 80’s and into the 90’s) and Moab, UT (1990’s). I was the first person issued a commercial use permit for over 600 square miles of public lands in Southern Utah.

I can go on and on about my accomplishments but, really, that’s not the purpose of this site. I just wanted to give you a framework of why I posted this site. One of my jobs was flying scenic flights for a ride operations flying 250’s. Anyone who’s flown commercially knows the pressure to fly is real. So the best way to make a responsible go/no-go decision is to get as much weather data as possible. Since I was also running the company’s web site, I started aggregating weather date onto a page that the owner and pilots could access with relevant weather information.

Now that I no longer fly commercially and the company that I flew for no longer exists, I miss that weather page. So I decided to recreate that page… in fact, a more improved version of that page… for me to use. And now I’m sharing it with all.

Use this web site as you like and at your own risk. I’m no weatherman and you are responsible for gathering your own information, verifying its authenticity and making your own go/no-go decisions.

SAFE LANDINGS!