Latest news with #53rdWeatherReconnaissanceSquadron
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Air Force Hurricane Hunters say they're ready for busy hurricane season
The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, also known as the "Hurricane Hunters," is officially ready to roll out for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. The 403rd Wing maintenance and support personnel based at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, spent the last week prepositioning aircraft parts, tools and communication systems at the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, in preparation for the season. "Our area of operation spans from just west of Hawaii to the middle of the Atlantic," said Lt. Col. Jeff Mitchell, 53rd WRS mission commander for the deployment. "Staging at St. Croix puts us closer to where Atlantic hurricanes tend to form, giving us the head start we need when every hour counts." Tropical wave: First tropical wave of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season just left the African coast The Hurricane Hunters are the only Department of Defense unit that flies into tropical storms and hurricanes, but they're not the only hurricane hunters around. Here's what to know about hurricane hunters and the important role they play during hurricane season. Hurricane hunters are pilots and researchers who fly into tropical storms and hurricanes to collect crucial data that forecasters use to make accurate predictions, help researchers better understand storm processes and improve forecast models. "Satellites are useful, but they can't measure the minimum sea level pressure inside a hurricane, or the structure and wind data we gather by flying directly into the eye," said Mitchell. "That data helps the National Hurricane Center make more accurate forecasts—forecasts that save lives and property." It probably seems crazy, but yes, hurricane hunters really do fly into storms. Using different planes, the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hurricane hunters cut through hurricanes to reach the storm's eyewall, which is relatively calm. Flying through a hurricane sounds exciting and dangerous, but there's a lot of downtime during the 8- to 10-hour flight. Colorado State University grad student Angelie Nieves Jiménez, who flew with the NOAA hurricane hunters in 2023, described the experience as thrilling, memorable and bumpy. "The bumpiness of the flight depends on the storm's strength and the reconnaissance mission path," she said. "Seat belts must be worn at all times when approaching the storm, because there can be updrafts and downdrafts that feel like a roller coaster." 53rd WRS chief aerial reconnaissance weather officer Lt. Col. Ryan Rickert focuses on the mission. "People often ask us what it's like to fly into a hurricane," said Rickert. "It's intense—but we know that every pass through the storm means better data for the National Hurricane Center forecasters and better warning for people in harm's way." Hurricane hunters will typically fly through the eyewall of the hurricane multiple times, dropping weather instruments called dropsondes to measure temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and barometric pressure from the aircraft to the ocean surface. All of this data is transmitted to the National Hurricane Center in real-time, which is then plugged into computer models to try and predict the storm's track and intensity. The data is important as it helps government officials and emergency managers to make decisions about evacuations and other storm preparations. 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron currently has 10 WC-130J "Super Hercules" aircraft, very similar to the Blue Angels' "Fat Albert" maintenance aircraft. This version of the Hercules is outfitted with palletized meteorological data-gathering instruments. NOAA's hurricane hunters fly two Lockheed JP-3D Orion four-engine turboprop aircraft into storms. The aircraft are nicknamed "Kermit" (N42RF) and "Miss Piggy" (N43RF). NOAA pilots also fly the Gulfstream IV-SP (G-IV) above and around storms. This plane has a cruising altitude of 45,000 feet and a range of 4,000 nautical miles, making it perfect to get a detailed view of weather systems in the upper atmosphere around a hurricane. This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Air Force Hurricane Hunters are ready for 2025 hurricane season
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
The pilots chasing 'sky rivers' and cyclones from Japan to the US
Storm-hunting planes chase atmospheric rivers through the sky from Japan to the US, revealing new insights into these powerful storms and how we can keep ourselves safe. It was an early morning in February, and Capt Nate Wordal, a storm-hunting US Air Force pilot, was flying out of Yokota Air Base west of Tokyo. After fighting some turbulence coming off Mount Fuji, he was headed for the vast, blue expanse of the Pacific Ocean. His destination: a type of storm known as an atmospheric river, which was developing off the coast of Japan. Atmospheric rivers are invisible ribbons of water vapour in the sky. The ones Capt Wordal was hunting form in the Pacific Ocean then travel eastwards to the US West Coast. When they hit the coast and flow up the mountains, the vapour cools, turns into rain or snow and is dumped on the ground – where it can bring devastating floods and avalanches. But the "sky rivers" also bring benefits, and are vital for preventing droughts: in California, they contribute up to 50% of annual rain and snow in just a few days each year. They occur in winter – which for storm-chasing pilots like Capt Wordal, adds another job after the summer hurricane season. "Our main mission during the year is hurricane hunting," says Capt Wordal, a hurricane hunter with the Air Force 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. He usually spends the months between May and November flying through hurricanes and dropping weather instruments that capture real-time data for the National Hurricane Center. "And then our next season that we've started in the last few years is this atmospheric river mission," he adds, where the flights gather data on those storms, typically between November and March. This year, for the first time, some of the flights started in Japan, in addition to flights out of Hawaii and the US West Coast, to measure the storms early on in their journey and create more accurate forecasts. Generally speaking, "our weather is moving west to east around the northern hemisphere, so the more accurate information you have about a storm further [west], the more you can understand how it's going to evolve," including how much rain or snow it will bring once it makes landfall, says Anna Wilson, an extreme weather specialist. Wilson is the field research manager for the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego – which is is one of the partners of the mission, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). The flights, known as the Atmospheric River Reconnaissance campaign (or AR Recon for short), were started almost 10 years ago by Scripps, Noaa and the Air Force. The missions have grown in scope and reach since then, as atmospheric rivers and their impact have been increasingly in the spotlight. In the western US, atmospheric rivers are the main cause of flood damage, causing more than $1bn (£753m) a year in such damage. They are becoming bigger, and the strongest ones are becoming more frequent, due to climate change, as warmer air holds more moisture. But people's ability to forecast, prepare for, and cope with these storms and the floods they bring, is also advancing – helped by data from the flights. "We fly to the [atmospheric river], we cross it multiple times if we can. We really target the [atmospheric river] itself as well as the weather conditions near it that will influence its movements, its growth, its weakening," says Marty Ralph, a meteorologist and the director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at Scripps, as well as the Atmospheric River Reconnaissance programme's principal investigator. To gather the data, a team in the back of each plane drops cylindrical instruments called dropsondes into the atmospheric river. The dropsondes collect data as they fall through the evolving storm, measuring its temperature, air pressure, wind and moisture, as well as its direction. In addition, the flights out of Japan dropped drifting ocean buoys – each of which is "about the size of a washing machine", says Capt Wordal. They drift in the Pacific Ocean and measure the waves and water temperature, for an ocean observation programme run by Noaa. "Our data is changing the forecast of where [atmospheric river] is going to hit the coast, when, with what strength and from what angle," Ralph explains. These measurements fill gaps in the data from satellites. More days to get ready The information provided by the flights results in more accurate forecasts days before the storm hits, evaluations of their impact suggest. This in turn can help weather services issue appropriate warnings in time, as well as helping reservoir managers decide whether to release water to catch the coming rain and prevent floods. Until this year, the flights measured atmospheric rivers and fed the information into the forecasts up to five days before the storms hit the coast. With the Japan flights, the aim was to extend these accurate, detailed forecasts by a few more days – and give people on the ground even more days to prepare. "Our goal in going to the western Pacific, is to maybe try and get an eight-day forecast improved, or even, a 10-day forecast," says Ralph. "The further west we can go, the more likely it is we can improve the forecast more than five days out." He adds that it can be several storms, influencing and sometimes merging with each other: "It's not like it's one single storm moving the whole way." Each atmospheric river can be several hundreds of kilometres wide, and can transport over 20 times as much water as the Mississippi River. Flying over cyclones The flights from Japan started on 3 February, and measured a big atmospheric river that formed off Japan, Ralph says, showing a series of maps on a video call. In the days that followed, that atmospheric river then triggered a cyclone northwest of Hawaii, he explains. (Studies suggest that atmospheric rivers can make cyclones more powerful due to the moisture they bring.) A separate flight out of Hawaii measured that cyclone, while others flew over further atmospheric rivers developing off Japan, he says. After about a week of these atmospheric rivers moving east, gathering strength, and another one developing into a cyclone, the storm then made landfall over California on 12 February. The storm brought heavy rain and floods to coastal California, and deep snow to the Sierra Nevada, leading streams and reservoirs to rise. It forced some evacuations due to the risk of landslides near burn scars from the recent Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles. But it also helped improve drought conditions in Central and Southern California, according to a preliminary analysis – an illustration of benefits alongside the risks of atmospheric rivers. For the pilots, the mission is in some ways less intense than hurricane hunting, says Capt Wordal – but the long flights required to chase atmospheric rivers, which can last 10 hours or more, present their own challenges, such as fatigue. The missions are flown with the Air Force's Lockheed WC-130J Hurricane Hunter aircraft, and Noaa's Gulfstream IV aircraft. "The flying is completely different [to hurricane hunting]," says Capt Wordal. To measure a hurricane, he and his crew fly into it, and spend two-to-four hours battling intense conditions: "Some people compare it to driving through a car wash, because you can get just unbelievable amounts of rain," as well as hail, lightning and heavy turbulence, he says. By comparison, flying through or over a brewing atmospheric river is calm, says Capt Wordal: "We're doing these giant race tracks across the Pacific Ocean, these really long flights, and we're getting the data of this atmospheric river that's going though the sky." However, as the atmospheric rivers approach the US West Coast, they become more aggressive and the crews can then experience more storm-like, turbulent conditions, Capt Wordal says. This makes returning to base and landing on any coast much more difficult due to the intense winds and rain hitting the airfield, he adds. In his experience, the challenge is to stay fully alert and engaged to support the crew doing the measurements and keep everyone safe. The pilots – usually two or three – ensure that the plane is where it needs to be, and that there are no ships below. Navigators are a large part of the mission and work very closely with the pilots and weather officers to chart a safe and efficient flight plan, he explains. In the back of the plane, loadmasters load and drop the dropsondes, and weather officers process the real-time data from the dropsonde and send it to Scripps. "And then they're right onto the next dropsonde. They do this for hours upon hours at a time, they have a lot of work to do in the back, they're really on it," he says. The next big storm The impact of the flights out of Japan, and the potential difference they made to the forecasts and situation on the ground, is still being analysed, according to Ralph and Wilson. "What we expect strongly to see, based on our prior results [and preliminary results from the Japan mission], is seeing additional lead time for impactful events for the US West Coast, just because of having those initial observations upstream, where some of those atmospheric rivers are being generated," says Wilson, who serves as the AR Recon programme's coordinator. "Getting better and better at targeting the right spots there and then seeing the impact in the forecasts on the US West Coast, is really exciting," she adds. In 2021, for example, flights out of Hawaii measured several atmospheric rivers and cyclones about five days before they hit California. Without the dropsonde data, the forecast was for a not very concerning storm, but with the data, the forecast changed to a major atmospheric river storm, Ralph says. This in turn helped people get ready: knowing that a big storm was coming, "the emergency preparedness community sprung into action, they closed roads, they evacuated neighbourhoods, in anticipation of a possible serious storm," he says. When the storm did hit, it caused substantial damage, "but there wasn't a loss of any life, so that was a success story in emergency preparedness," he concludes. Preventing droughts In addition, such preparedness can be vital for drought prevention, Ralph says. Given that atmospheric rivers are so important for the water supply, reservoir managers face a difficult choice, he explains: if they empty a full reservoir ahead of a predicted big storm with heavy rain, and that rain then turns out to be less than expected, they've lost the next summer's water supply. "If there are no more storms for that winter, they can never get that water back [before the summer]," he says – when it will be needed for farming, for example. But if reservoir managers have accurate forecasts, thanks to the flights, telling them for example that a big storm is coming in three days, they can confidently release water from the reservoir, knowing how much rain will come, and creating space to catch it. (Read more from the BBC about what the flights have revealed about atmospheric rivers, and how these powerful storms are evolving with climate change.) With the atmospheric river season now over, Capt Wordal is ready to switch over to his other task: chasing hurricanes. "End of this month is when the hurricane season starts," he says, speaking in May. "April, May, are somewhat down months, where we get back to our training, and getting everyone ready – before we launch into the tropical storm season." -- For essential climate news and hopeful developments to your inbox, sign up to the Future Earth newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights twice a week. For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, Xand Instagram.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Hurricane Hunters investigate atmospheric river bringing flood threat to Northwest this weekend
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Forecasters are getting an in-depth look at the next storm that's about to wallop the West Coast this weekend, thanks to the efforts of the Hurricane Hunters. Those are special missions flown by the Air Force Reserve's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. Hurricane Hunters spent about 10 hours in flight overnight Thursday into Friday, gathering crucial weather data by flying into the atmospheric river storm that's currently over the Pacific Ocean. The storm is expected to bring urban and river flooding to western portions of Washington and Oregon beginning Saturday and continuing into Tuesday. The Hurricane Hunters are expected to fly two more missions into the atmospheric river Friday, with the last one taking off from Honolulu, Hawaii, around 9 a.m. local time. What Is An Atmospheric River? As their name suggests, Hurricane Hunters see the most missions during hurricane season. During the winter, their mission shifts toward atmospheric rivers because of how impactful these storms have been on the West, according to a release from the Air Force 403rd Wing. "The data we collect is important for forecasters at the National Weather Service and researchers to track atmospheric rivers, which are large amounts of water vapor in the earth's atmosphere," said Lt. Col. Ryan Rickert, an aerial reconnaissance weather officer. Inside The 'Flying Laboratory' Used By Noaa's Hurricane Hunters According to the Air Force, missions involve flying aircraft from 24,000 to 32,000 feet to collect crucial horizontal and vertical profiles of the winds, temperature, humidity, dewpoint and pressure for forecast models. The planes then drop advanced weather sensors and devices called dropsondes into the storm. This allows the crew to obtain data that could not be gathered by traditional ground-based weather stations or satellites. That data is then sent to the National Center for Environmental Prediction, which is used to improve weather forecast models. In addition to flying out of Hawaii, the missions operate out of Washington state, California, Mississippi, and for the first time, Yokota Air Base in Japan. Hurricane Hunters Track Western Floods, Drought In Off-season As for the atmospheric river itself, the storm is expected to bring heavy rain for the entire Pacific Northwest coast starting Saturday. According to the FOX Forecast Center, urban and river flooding are possible with the potential of up to 8 inches of rainfall in some places, through Tuesday. The bulk of the rain will fall this weekend. River flooding is expected to begin Sunday, with the Skokomish River forecast to rise above minor flood stage. The majority of the snow will fall in the Cascades at elevations starting about 6,500 feet. A multi-day flash flood threat was outlined along the Washington-Oregon coast. This atmospheric river could also bring significant flash flooding across parts of Idaho and Montana where the ground remains frozen from days of subzero temperatures. How To Watch Fox WeatherOriginal article source: Hurricane Hunters investigate atmospheric river bringing flood threat to Northwest this weekend
