Via the 403rd Wing, Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, a report on a May 18 Interagency presidential briefing ahead of the start of Hurricane Season. Here’s the part most people will want to know first, from the end of the article:
The official NOAA hurricane forecast for this year’s hurricane season has yet to be released, but forecasters from the University of Colorado have projected an above-average season.
“The job is not going to slow up any time soon,” said the president. “We are prepared for upcoming season. We know hurricanes are coming our way; they grow more extreme each season … so pay attention to hurricane warnings, and … follow the guidance of local authorities. We are going to do everything to protect you.”
(See the NOAA update below.)
The event was an opportunity to spotlight the agencies, people, and aircraft that play a vital role in dealing with the upcoming hurricane season.
A WC-130J Super Hercules, a NOAA WP-3D Orion and Gulfstream IV-SP and a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter, and FEMA trucks were on display as part of a brief that the Department of Commerce, NOAA, NHC, FEMA, Department of Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development and other top officials provide to the president annually in preparation for the upcoming hurricane season, which starts June 1 and lasts until Nov. 30. This is the first year that the static displays were part of the briefing, according to Graham.
“It really is amazing what you all do to protect us,” said U.S. President Joseph R. Biden, after touring the static displays, and in a briefing with national emergency management leaders. “I met with some of these brave women and men who perform these high risk missions, and they are trying to help not only deal with, but predict the hurricanes, the severity of them, where they are going to land, and flying right into the heart of them.”
The 53rd WRS is the only Department of Defense unit that annually flies weather reconnaissance missions into severe tropical weather to gather atmospheric data within the storms that is sent to the National Hurricane Center to improve their forecasts and storm warnings. Outside of hurricane season, they fly into winter storms on the East Coast and atmospheric rivers, massive bands of moisture that cause huge amounts of rainfall and flooding, on the West Coast to improve forecasts.
NOAA also flies into storms to gather weather data which is input into the forecasts and helps hurricane researchers better understand storm processes.
All in all, this briefing demonstrates what government can and should be about: preparing for known hazards, coordinating between different agencies for more effective response, recognizing good people doing good work, competent leadership that appreciates how it all works, and making responsible decisions based on the best information available.
The WC-130 is a specially configured version of the C-130 Hercules, an aircraft that has been a mainstay of the military since the first version entered service in 1956. The J model is the latest version.
The 53rd Weather Reconaisance Squadron of the 403rd Wing flies into hurricanes, and winter storms off east and west coasts to gather weather data that can’t be obtained any other way. This is vital in predicting what storms are likely to do; the data is fed into computers practically in real time.
...As one of their WC-130J Super Hercules aircraft powers through a hurricane, a loadmaster is in the back, preparing and launching dropsondes that collect atmospheric data.
The aerial reconnaissance weather officer sits adjacent, quality checking the figures from the dropsonde as it plummets to the ocean’s surface and from the stepped frequency microwave radiometer attached to the wing of the aircraft.
From there, all pertinent information that can help forecasters better predict the storm’s intensity and track is sent directly from the aircraft to the National Hurricane Center in Miami or the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu.
To accomplish all of this, the 53rd WRS’s 10 WC-130Js are equipped with satellite communications capabilities.
While for years, the squadron’s 10 aircraft have been able to send the atmospheric data collected from the dropsondes and SFMRs, new technology is being tested that will allow more real-time information for the NHC concurrent with the National Hurricane Operations Plan’s requirements of radar reflectivity imagery and high density, three-dimensional Doppler radial velocities of the tropical cyclone core circulation.
The 403rd wing has some media resources available here.
Here’s a video from the Smithsonian on a flight into a hurricane aboard a WC-130J. A bit dramatic, but it covers the basics.
The Herks aren’t the only aircraft ‘taking the temperature’ of storms. NOAA also operates other aircraft to gather data. These mobile weather data gathering platforms are able to go to where the weather is, in places where there are no ground-based stations, and can monitor weather systems as they move.
It is not without risk. A NOAA WP-3D Orion was nearly lost to Hurricane Hugo after problems with a radar system led the crew to fail to appreciate just how strong the storm was and adjust their flight path accordingly. (8 part account at the link.) They took severe damage. A WC-130 also flying the storm was able to find them a path out through the least turbulence.
Given how Climate Change is progressing, missions like this are going to become even more critical in the years ahead.
Read More