KRQE.com Balloon Fiesta Blog

Crowds have arrived at Balloon Fiesta Park this morning, the second to last day of this year's Fiesta. But pilots aren't expecting too much this morning.

Winds right now are very light, coming from the northeast, but they're expected to pick up as the sun rises. The National Weather Service is predicting 5 to 10 mile an hour winds with gusts up to 30, which could definitely keep balloons on the ground.

And winds aren't expected to be much better tomorrow, with winds between 5 and 15 miles an hour coming out of the west.

Kevin Knapp, pilot of the Mayflower Transit balloon, told us that he's expecting the first wave to have a short flight, and doesn't think the second wave will get off the ground today.

Still, today's not a total bust. The Dawn Patrol is giving the crowds a nice morning glow as they lift off. We'll see what it's like later today.

Also today, we decided to check out what traffic would be like. Normally, we get in early enough (5 a.m. or so) that the path to our parking spot is pretty light. But it's quite a different story at 5:30. Traffic on Alameda was backed up pretty good, but it flowed about as well as possible when you have thousands of people converging on the same spot at the same time.

We'll keep you updated with today's conditions.

Source: KRQE News 13 | By: Todd Dukart