Weatherwise, mornings best for watching balloons lift off

PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Coleman

The best bet to see a mass rising of hot air balloons may be this morning or Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

The 40th annual Adirondack Balloon Festival is being held today and Sunday at the Floyd Bennett Memorial Warren County Airport in the town of Queensbury. More than 100 hot air balloons are participating in this year’s festival.

Luigi Meccariello, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said rain won’t be coming into the region until this afternoon. This morning the temperature is expected to be in the mid-50s with light winds.

The balloons don’t lift off if it is windy or raining.

The rain and wind will come into the Warren County area later today with 60 percent chance of showers by this evening when a cold front comes through, Meccariello said.

The rain should have moved through the region by Sunday morning but the temperature will be cooler, somewhere in the upper 40s to 50. Winds should be light, in the 5 mph range.

Sunday will be clear with high temperatures in the mid-60s later in the day.

This morning, the balloons will have a mass launch at 6:30 a.m. from the airport, weather permitting. Breakfast will also be available this morning and Sunday morning. There will be music and other events this afternoon at the airport and another mass flight of 100 hot air balloons at 5 p.m., weather permitting.

At 8 tonight there will be a moonglow event at the airport, weather permitting, with 40 balloons illuminated.

On Sunday the 100 balloons will again have a mass liftoff, called “Walter’s Mass Ascension” in honor of the late festival founder, Walter Grishkot, at the airport at 6:30 a.m., weather permitting. There will be Catholic and Protestant services at the airport later in the morning.

Starting at 2 p.m. Sunday in Crandall Park in the city of Glens Falls there will be music. At 5 p.m. Sunday more than 20 balloons are scheduled to lift off from Crandall Park as the final festival event.