Photo By Ryan Labadens | A WC-130J aircraft from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron prepares to taxi onto...... read more read more
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KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Aircrews from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron "Hurricane Hunters" flew their WC-130J aircraft off the southeast coast of the United States in support of the first storm mission of the 2015 hurricane season, Tropical Storm Ana.
Ana made landfall early Mother's Day morning, May 11, near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with maximum sustained winds of 45 miles an hour, and was downgraded to a tropical depression later that day as it moved inland.
The Hurricane Hunters began looking for circulation patterns in the wind fields while flying low-level investigations into the storm over the Caribbean May 7. The system began working its way toward the eastern seaboard of the United States that night when it was named Subtropical Storm Ana. It officially became a tropical storm early in the morning of May 9.
The Hurricane Hunters flew a total of six sorties into the storm, averaging about seven to eight hours per storm mission.
Even though this particular storm took place before the official start of the hurricane season, which normally lasts from June 1 to November 30, it is not unheard of for a storm to form before June 1, said Maj. Douglas Gautrau, 53rd WRS aerial reconnaissance weather officer.
"There have been tropical storms every month of the year throughout history," said Gautrau. "But we're (always) prepped and ready to get into the game."
Lt. Col. Jon Talbot, 53rd WRS chief ARWO, said aircrews release dropsondes from the aircraft into the storms to gather weather data such as current pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction.
"(Ana) lived up to its expectations," said Maj. Jonathan Brady, 53rd WRS ARWO, who flew the first sortie and spoke to the importance of gathering this storm data for the NHC. "It developed well as far as a spiraling rotating structure."
Talbot said the Hurricane Hunters receive their storm taskings for collecting weather data from the National Hurricane Center and are "ready to go whenever the call comes in."
The storm data gathered is sent every 10 minutes to the National Hurricane Center for NHC personnel for use to increase to accuracy of their storm tracking models.
While Ana was brewing in the Atlantic, other members of the Hurricane Hunter squadron were also participating in a week-long Hurricane Awareness Tour along the east coast of the United States. One of the stops the Hurricane Hunters visited was Myrtle Beach International Airport in Horry County, South Carolina, May 6, which was close to where Ana made landfall of few days later.
Randall Webster, director of Horry County Emergency Management, commented on the teamwork involved in gathering and distributing information to the public for situations like tropical storms and hurricanes. He expressed his appreciation for the data collected by the Hurricane Hunters.
"We recognize the value of having the Hurricane Hunters in that storm gathering data for the forecast we got, and that led us to get a better understanding of the strength and path of the storm," said Webster. "This allowed us not to over-respond or put out more of an expense then what was necessary to prepare for it."
| Date Taken: | 05.11.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 12.30.2016 11:06 |
| Story ID: | 219035 |
| Location: | KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Web Views: | 23 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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