Downtown Disney debuts balloon attraction

Day heats up, wind picks up

Central Florida winds are fickle. It may be foolhardy to try to predict the pattern, but as we waited for gusts to die down and the balloon to lift back up, I wondered, "When is the breeziest time of day for us?"

"On a normal, typical average day when you don't have storms, it's going to be in the afternoon," says Amy Sweezey, a meteorologist at WESH-Channel 2.

"One of the main causes of wind is the sun heating the Earth. The land — the peninsula — heats hotter than the water, the ocean. That's why we get our sea breezes here too," Sweezey says.

"So generally when you get the hottest part of the day, when the land can heat up the most and you get the biggest temperature difference between the air over the land and air over the water, that's when you get the winds that blow the strongest.

Bottom line: "That generally happens in the afternoon," she says.

See for yourself

Characters in Flight

What: Tethered helium-balloon that can elevate more than 20 passengers — weather permitting

Where: Downtown Disney, off Interstate 4, southwest of Orlando

When: 10:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m., Sundays-Thursdays; 10:30 a.m.-midnight, Fridays and Saturdays

Cost: $16 general, $10 ages 3-9.

Call: 407-824-4321

Online:disneyworld.com/

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