Weather monitor almost took a bullet

GLACIER VIEW — Tuesday was a typical morning for Rex Close.

He woke up in his log cabin and headed to the bathroom. He sat down, and then he saw it.

A white box with a white wire was hanging from his eaves.

“I thought somebody’s trying to do me in. Some remote is going to set this thing off,” the Air Force and Department of Defense veteran said.

He got dressed and “Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson and I went outside.”

The wire was connected to an orange plastic sheet hanging from a tree. It took a second, but Close soon figured it out.

“Here I am, drawing down on a weather balloon,” Close said.

Information on the box said it was released from Anchorage at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning. Close called the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who confirmed that agency had indeed released it that morning and were tracking a very strong wind pattern.

He is mailing the balloon back to NOAA in the balloon’s self-contained and pre-paid box.

The ironic thing, Close said, is he lives in the middle of the forest. Only by pure chance did it happen to get stuck in the one tree right in front of his window, or he probably would have never found it.

“It’s funny now,” said Close, “but it was really unnerving for the first 10 minutes. I thought, Who’s mad at me now?’”

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or (907) 352-2252.