There are 4 weather conditions that will keep us on the ground.
High Wind
Wind is a balloons biggest enemy. Wind of more than about 10mph will make the balloon almost uncontrollable. We do not like to take passengers if the winds are more than 6 MPH.
To put a balloon up you must first fill it with air. This is done by laying the balloon on the ground and starting a large fan. You must hold the balloon still long enough to fill it with air before you turn on the burner to stand up the balloon. If you have any wind the balloon will begin to catch the wind like a giant sail and begin to drag itself across the field. A balloon can generate as much as 6,000 lbs of pulling force in as little as a 12 mph wind. At this time we don't even want to talk about landing in windy conditions.
Poor Visibility
A Hot Air Balloon is a VFR type of aircraft. This means Visual Flight Rules. These are rules written by the Federal Aviation Administration. Not only is it illegal to operate a balloon in poor visibility but imagine driving your car with your eyes closed. You're bound to hit something and it wont be pretty. To land a balloon the pilot must slow the decent of the balloon to get it to level off right at the ground level. Hard to do when you can not see the ground. We also need to have room under the clouds to fly. If the clouds are only 1,000 feet off the ground we do not have the legal distance requirements to fly. Keep in mind, there is a delay between when the pilot turns on the burner and the balloon begins to respond. Very much having a deer run out in front of your car on the highway. By the time you see the deer its too late. Remember also that in poor visibility other aircraft can not see us either. If there is even a chance of visibility issues we will choose not to fly. This is (in our opinion) the most dangerous condition.
Wind Shear
There are days when it seems perfectly flyable on the ground. BUT.. In some cases the wind just above the tree tops is scooting along real good. This is what we call a "Wind Shear". There are several problems with high winds aloft. First is that your ground team can not keep up. The recovery team must travel about 2.5 times faster on the ground that you are flying in the sky in order to keep up. The balloon is going cross country and the ground team is on roads that may not go parallel to the balloons flight. On the ground they must deal with turns, stop lights, Stop Signs and 
TRAFFIC. If you are flying along at 25 miles per hour they must be doing 62.5 constantly to keep up. Another problem and more severe is what the shear does to the balloon. Lets stop for a second and explain a shear. This is a point in the sky where two different layers of wind have A). a significant speed difference or B), a considerable difference in direction. When a balloon hits a wind shear it can collapse the side of the balloon causing the pilot to burn thru the skin of the balloon or the balloon can literally skip off the shear like a rock on water.
Think of it like this.
Here is a great analogy: Imagine we have placed a hula hoop about 250 feet out in a lake. You have a rock and you have to skip the rock off the water and make it stop inside the Hula Hoop. Sounds nearly impossible, Now, You get one chance at it and your betting your life on it. We won’t do that. Flying a balloon when there is a significant wind shear at low levels to the ground is simply not safe.
Rain
Generally when you have rain you have weather conditions that can change dramatically. Here in Florida rain is either driven by an advancing cold front or by the convective heating of the surface of the earth by our intense sunshine. In either case the rain on a balloon will add dramatic weight to the skin of the balloon forcing the pilot to add extra amounts of heat to keep the balloon aloft. It is possible for this weight to become so heavy that it literally forces the balloon into the ground. If the pilot can successfully land the balloon the damage to the fabric of the balloon will completely ruin the aircraft. WE DO NOT LIKE RAIN.
As we like to say:
"We have 100 reasons WE WANT TO TAKE YOU FLYING. We only have one reason we will not. SAFETY".
"I hate to disappoint someone but I refuse to hurt anyone"
A quote from a famous flight instructor
Osceola County Florida
8:23 pm,
May 9, 2026
82°F
L: 71°
H: 91°
Feels like 86°F°
overcast clouds
Today
8:00 pm
82°
0.03 inch
86%
8 mph
72 %
1013 mb
0 mm/h
Today
9:00 pm
81°
0.03 inch
73%
3 mph
72 %
1013 mb
0 mm/h
Today
10:00 pm
80°
0.03 inch
80%
4 mph
74 %
1014 mb
0 mm/h
Today
11:00 pm
79°
0.04 inch
97%
6 mph
75 %
1014 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
12:00 am
77°
0.03 inch
77%
5 mph
77 %
1015 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
1:00 am
75°
0.03 inch
73%
1 mph
79 %
1015 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
2:00 am
74°
0.03 inch
65%
1 mph
78 %
1014 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
3:00 am
74°
0 inch
0%
1 mph
79 %
1014 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
4:00 am
74°
0 inch
0%
0 mph
76 %
1013 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
5:00 am
73°
0 inch
0%
1 mph
76 %
1014 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
6:00 am
72°
0 inch
0%
2 mph
76 %
1014 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
7:00 am
72°
0 inch
0%
3 mph
78 %
1015 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
8:00 am
72°
0.03 inch
78%
5 mph
82 %
1016 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
9:00 am
74°
0.04 inch
100%
2 mph
74 %
1017 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
10:00 am
79°
0.03 inch
87%
3 mph
64 %
1017 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
11:00 am
83°
0.03 inch
76%
4 mph
57 %
1017 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
12:00 pm
87°
0.03 inch
66%
6 mph
49 %
1017 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
1:00 pm
89°
0.02 inch
49%
6 mph
45 %
1016 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
2:00 pm
86°
0.02 inch
50%
5 mph
44 %
1016 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
3:00 pm
91°
0.02 inch
43%
7 mph
42 %
1015 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
4:00 pm
87°
0.01 inch
23%
7 mph
51 %
1015 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
5:00 pm
85°
0.01 inch
14%
6 mph
55 %
1015 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
6:00 pm
80°
0.01 inch
15%
12 mph
67 %
1015 mb
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
7:00 pm
79°
0 inch
0%
10 mph
70 %
1016 mb
0 mm/h
Poesner Park
7:23 pm,
May 9, 2026
82°F
L: 71°
H: 91°
Feels like 86°F°
overcast clouds
Daily ForecastHourly Forecast
Today
7:00 pm
82°
0.03 inch
86%
8 mph
72 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Today
8:00 pm
81°
0.03 inch
73%
3 mph
72 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Today
9:00 pm
80°
0.03 inch
80%
4 mph
74 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Today
10:00 pm
79°
0.04 inch
97%
6 mph
75 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Today
11:00 pm
77°
0.03 inch
77%
5 mph
77 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
12:00 am
75°
0.03 inch
73%
1 mph
79 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
1:00 am
74°
0.03 inch
65%
1 mph
78 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
2:00 am
74°
0 inch
0%
1 mph
79 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
3:00 am
74°
0 inch
0%
0 mph
76 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
4:00 am
73°
0 inch
0%
1 mph
76 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
5:00 am
72°
0 inch
0%
2 mph
76 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
6:00 am
72°
0 inch
0%
3 mph
78 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
7:00 am
72°
0.03 inch
78%
5 mph
82 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
8:00 am
74°
0.04 inch
100%
2 mph
74 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
9:00 am
79°
0.03 inch
87%
3 mph
64 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
10:00 am
83°
0.03 inch
76%
4 mph
57 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
11:00 am
87°
0.03 inch
66%
6 mph
49 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
12:00 pm
89°
0.02 inch
49%
6 mph
45 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
1:00 pm
86°
0.02 inch
50%
5 mph
44 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
2:00 pm
91°
0.02 inch
43%
7 mph
42 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
3:00 pm
87°
0.01 inch
23%
7 mph
51 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
4:00 pm
85°
0.01 inch
14%
6 mph
55 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
5:00 pm
80°
0.01 inch
15%
12 mph
67 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
6:00 pm
79°
0 inch
0%
10 mph
70 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
7:00 pm
78°
0 inch
0%
9 mph
74 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
8:00 pm
76°
0.03 inch
82%
6 mph
83 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
9:00 pm
75°
0.03 inch
78%
5 mph
86 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
10:00 pm
75°
0.03 inch
65%
5 mph
86 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Tomorrow
11:00 pm
75°
0.02 inch
52%
5 mph
85 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Mon May 11
12:00 am
76°
0.02 inch
40%
6 mph
82 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Mon May 11
1:00 am
76°
0.01 inch
30%
6 mph
81 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Mon May 11
2:00 am
75°
0 inch
0%
6 mph
83 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Mon May 11
3:00 am
75°
0 inch
0%
3 mph
83 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Mon May 11
4:00 am
75°
0 inch
0%
3 mph
84 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Mon May 11
5:00 am
74°
0 inch
0%
5 mph
86 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h
Mon May 11
6:00 am
74°
0 inch
0%
3 mph
86 %
23 inhg
0 mm/h