“You’re Not Crazy” — Woman Says Weather Apps Are Less Accurate, Nws Deploying Fewer Balloons

If you've felt like your weather applications have been feeding you incorrect information recently, you aren't alone. TikToker Megan Jones (@meganjogoes) posted a viral TikTok clip asserting that this is indeed the case due to fewer weather balloons being deployed by the National Weather Service in the United States.

Megan begins her video by speaking directly into the camera while recording from the interior of a car. "Our weather apps are not accurate anymore. You're not crazy," she claims.

Next, she explains why this isn't the case, which may feel like a fresh air of vindication for anyone who has ever suspected that their phone's weather tracking applications are giving them false information.

Megan says that while perusing a social media post touching on the same topic, she read correspondence from a meteorologist who attributed these inaccuracies to the lack of weather monitoring balloons being deployed into the sky.

"I was reading in someone's comments section, a meteorologist commented and said there's not as many balloon tracking things up in the air. So that's why all of our apps are not accurate anymore."

The TikToker went on, "I swear every day it says it's gonna rain and it doesn't rain. Or it does randomly but you never know. It used to be super accurate. And you're not crazy, they're not accurate anymore," she says, grinning into the camera in what looks and sounds like disbelief at having skepticism geared towards the efficacy, or lack thereof, of weather applications.

She said that this lack of readily available weather tracking data can have disastrous consequences on folks planning their days.

"That's really scary. Because what happens during a weather event. Oh wait, we know what happens during a big weather event. Yikes, yikes."

On July 4, 2025, fatal flooding in Central Texas claimed the lives of at least 135 people. Those affected by the floods claimed that they didn't receive any notifications about the possible severity of the floods, CBS News writes.

The outlet went on to report that there were some 22 warnings disseminated by the National Weather Service for Kerr County "with escalating language about the urgency of the situation."

However, the same media source writes that "there were no alerts sent by local government officials in Kerr County or neighboring Bandera County to its South."

Furthermore, CBS says that individuals in these aforementioned areas "were reliant on National Weather Service Alerts" to brace for the storm that killed so many. Additionally, the outlet provided a timeline of weather reporting pertaining to the Texas floods, stating that "weather service messages had been sent July 2-3 to western and central areas of the state about the risk of flooding."

You shouldn't believe everything you see on the internet, and second-hand anecdotal claims about fewer weather balloons being shot up into the air are no exception. However, there have been reports that appear to bolster Megan's assertion in her TikTok.

On March 26, 2025, Orbital Today predicted that "weather forecasting in the U.S. is about to get worse," citing that meteorologists forecast the downfall of accurate climate reporting in America.

This is largely attributed "to mass layoffs and shortages" at the National Weather Service, the outlet writes.

Consequently, weather monitoring experts surmised there would be a "deterioration in the accuracy of weather forecasts, jeopardizing the economy and even people's lives."

Moreover, the same piece outlined some of the most affected areas in the United States.

The article mentions that the NWS "has reduced launches from two to one per day" in the following locations:

• Aberdeen, S.D.
• Grand Junction, Colo.
• Green Bay, Wis.
• Gaylord, Mich.
• North Platte, Neb.
• Riverton, Wyo.

Again, the article reiterates that the National Weather Service maintained that "poor awareness" of weather events would become par for the course as a consequence of reducing the number of deployed weather balloons.

In some parts of the United States, like Kotzebue, Alaska, and Albany, N.Y., along with Gray, Maine, the National Weather Service has purportedly stopped launching balloons altogether.

While the Orbital article links the National Weather Service's drop in balloon deployments to DOGE initiatives under the Trump administration, Politifact states that not all of these cuts have been enacted. Furthermore, the Politifact article writes that the cuts pertained to probationary employees and contract buyouts.

In fact, the renewed Trump proposal for the National Weather Service features a 6.7% overall budget increase for the National Weather Service.

Moreover, Politifact highlighted correspondence Greg Waller, service hydrologist for the National Weather Service in West Gulf River Forecast Center in Fort Worth, had with The Texas Tribune.

Waller remarked that the division "had adequate staffing ... [and] adequate technology," with regards to the Texas Floods. "This was us doing our job to the best of our abilities," he said of the floods.