Reports had it as a weather balloon which would “hover 20’ off the ground.
No mention of it being tethered (reporting on this was horrid). A former weatherman and current storm chaser, might it have been intended to be tethered to the vehicle.
The kids slept in their clothes in case they had to get up fast to go chasing.
The reporting on this was practically normal, from what I heard.
I still wait more info about what the intent of this gadget was... but as for “hovering” ... the only reason it would not go higher is that it was tethered to the ground! Perhaps that was the dad’s intent, but I seriously doubt it.
The reporters are so scatterbrained that they don’t know ANYTHING about serious items, and they just make things up as they go along. As I said much earlier: 10% useful info, 20% complete distortions, 70% just ignorant.
The 20% distortions (example in this case: the 8,000ft above Sea Level high vs. 2000ft Above Ground Level conflicts) may be able to be deciphered. The “basket”, etc., was not decipherable for me anyway. The “hot air” was CLEARLY wrong. Those saying that it could not lift a 6yo are just wrong, given the size of the craft and accurate calculation. Some are thinking a 6yo has to weigh 100pounds instead of 40. Some just do poor math. Some were equating a hundred carnival balloons to this mylar craft, with all those balloon’s materials aggregated weight, that simply is not sensible for this case. Some just don’t realize that children can hide better than they’re given credit for, or lie better... or who knows.
I’m happy for the turn out, and really think it is a pretty typical “science” and “family” related story as far as the reporting accuracies.
I’m still hoping to hear sometime whether the 8yo knew that the 6yo was hiding... For his sake, I honestly hope he was telling the truth. I confidently believe that this was not a “hoax” by the parents, at all.
By the way... I’ve slept in my clothes at times for reasons very akin to storm chasing! LOL Often, I was in the car on station at the time, too.