Parts of this article (those related to current commander) need to be updated.(May 2022) |
53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron | |
---|---|
Active | 1944–1947, 1951–1960, 1962–1991, 1993–present |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Air Force |
Type | Squadron |
Role | Tropical storm weather reconnaissance |
Size | 10 aircraft, 20 flight crews |
Part of | Air Force Reserve Command |
Garrison/HQ | Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi |
Nickname(s) | Hurricane Hunters |
Decorations | Meritorious Unit Commendation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award |
Commanders | |
Current commander | LtCol Dwayne Russell |
Insignia | |
53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron emblem (1995) [1] [lower-alpha 1] | |
53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron emblem (approved 1 April 1963) [2] | |
53rd Reconnaissance Squadron emblem (approved 15 November 1945) [2] | |
Aircraft flown | |
Reconnaissance | WC-130J Hercules WB-47E Stratojet WB-50D Superfortress WB-29A/B-29A Superfortress RB-17/TB-17 Flying Fortress B-25/WB-25D Mitchell |
The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, also known by its nickname, Hurricane Hunters, is a flying unit of the United States Air Force, and "the only Department of Defense organization still flying into tropical storms and hurricanes." [3] Aligned under the 403rd Wing of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) and based at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, with ten aircraft, it flies into tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Central Pacific Ocean for the specific purpose of directly measuring weather data in and around those storms. The 53rd WRS currently operates the Lockheed WC-130J aircraft as its weather data collection platform.
The squadron was activated in 1944 during World War II as the 3rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, tracking weather in the North Atlantic between North America and Europe. Redesignated the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron in 1945, the term "Hurricane Hunters" was first applied to its activities in 1946. The 53rd became a part of the USAF before its inactivation in 1947, was reactivated in 1951 as a long range weather reconnaissance unit based in Bermuda and England, and since 1963 has been based in the southern United States or in Puerto Rico with its primary mission the measurement of tropical cyclones. The 53rd WRS moved to its present home station at Keesler AFB in 1973, and after being briefly inactivated again between 1991 and 1993, became an Air Force Reserve unit.
The Hurricane Hunters of the Air Force Reserve are distinct from those of the Department of Commerce's NOAA Hurricane Hunters, based at Lakeland Linder International Airport, Florida, [4] who use a pair of Lockheed WP-3D Orion and a Gulfstream IV-SP aircraft to also fly weather reconnaissance, data collection and scientific research missions. In accordance with its memorandum of agreement with NOAA, AFRC maintains a capability in the 53rd WRS for five sorties per day from its home station and two deployed locations in support of requirements for the National Hurricane Operations Plan, or two sorties a day during winter storm seasons. The 53rd also provides a subunit, the Chief, Aerial Reconnaissance Coordination, All Hurricanes ("CARCAH"), at the National Hurricane Center to coordinate the activities of both organizations. [5]
Concurrent with its operational mission, the 53rd WRS is also tasked with recruiting, organizing and training assigned personnel to perform aerial weather reconnaissance, and its air crews are qualified to handle tactical airlift missions.
Aerial reconnaissance of tropical storms first began in September 1935. In that year the United States Weather Bureau decentralized its hurricane warning system, which depended to a great extent on reports from ships at sea, opening three warning centers in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Jacksonville, Florida; and New Orleans, Louisiana. In August the Jacksonville center followed the progress of a developing hurricane east of the Bahamas, determining that it would pass through the Straits of Florida and strike the north coast of Cuba. It contacted the Cuban weather service when ship information was no longer available, but track of the storm was lost when the Cubans observed no evidence of it. Acting on a report from a Pan American Airlines pilot, a weather observation flight was requested of the Cuban Army Ar Corps and on 2 September 1935 its chief training pilot, American expatriate Capt. Leonard J. Povey, volunteered to locate the system. Although he was unable to penetrate the storm in his open-cockpit Curtiss Hawk II biplane, Povey provided information that indicated the hurricane was moving north into the Florida Keys. [6] The destructiveness of the 1935 Labor Day hurricane prompted Povey to recommend a regular aerial hurricane patrol. [7] [lower-alpha 2]
The 1943 Surprise Hurricane, which struck Houston during World War II, marked the first intentional meteorological flight into a hurricane. That summer, British pilots being trained as instrument instructor pilots at Bryan Army Airfield heard that the school was evacuating its AT-6 Texan trainers in the face of the oncoming hurricane, and began teasing their instructors about the airworthiness of the aircraft. Instrument flying school commander USAAF Lt. Col. Joseph B. Duckworth, a former airline pilot with Eastern Airlines who had developed instrument procedures for the carrier, bet his RAF students that he could safely fly into the storm and return. On 27 July 1943 he took out one of the trainers with 2nd Lt Ralph M. O'Hair navigating and flew it straight into the eye of the storm. After he returned safely, the base's only weather officer, 1st Lt William H. Jones-Burdick, took over the navigator's seat and Duckworth flew into the storm (now over land) a second time, this time recording their observations and measuring temperatures within the storm. [8] [9] The flights demonstrated that hurricane reconnaissance flights were feasible. [10] [11]
24 days later, on 19 August 1943, the AAF weather station at Waller Field, Trinidad, recorded unusually low pressures and received a similar report from Beane Field on Saint Lucia. Together with a report of high winds to the east from a U.S. Navy aircraft landing at Naval Operating Base Trinidad, the data prompted the first weather reconnaissance mission to locate a previously unreported tropical disturbance, which was flown the next morning. The flight, made by a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber assigned to the 25th Bombardment Group (an anti-submarine unit at nearby Edinburgh Field), proceeded from Waller to Barbados and then due east at altitudes between 8,000 and 600 ft (2,440 and 180 m) into the heart of Hurricane III of 1943. Using standard navigational position fixes, the mission plotted observations inflight on a chart as they proceeded and transmitted them to Beane Field for relay to Waller and Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico. [lower-alpha 3] [12]
The 53rd WRS was activated on 7 August 1944 at Presque Isle Army Air Field, Maine, originally as the 3 WRS. [1] [13] Many of its missions were flown from a forward base at Gander, Newfoundland, using B-25s. Its original mission was to fly weather tracks along aircraft ferry routes between North America and Allied Western Europe. During the 1946 season, when the 53d WRS acquired the Boeing RB-29 (later WB-29) Superfortress as its primary aircraft, the term "Hurricane Hunters" was first used to describe its missions. While not an ideal weather reconnaissance platform, the WB-29 proved to be comparatively safe and reliable. The first medium level penetration of a hurricane took place on 19 October 1947 by an RB-29 of the 53d WRS into Hurricane Love near Bermuda, validating penetration of tropical storms at lower altitudes as reasonably safe. [14]
From Gander, the squadron moved to New Hampshire; Florida; Kindley Field, Bermuda; RAF Burtonwood, England, with forward basing at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; Bermuda for a short time, and Hunter Air Force Base, Georgia. In 1966, now flying the Lockheed WC-130, the 53rd WRS once again left the United States, this time for Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico. When Ramey closed in 1973, the Hurricane Hunters relocated to their present location at Keesler AFB, Mississippi. [10]
On 18 September 1953, while based at Kindley, Bermuda, the squadron suffered its only mission-related loss of an aircraft, a WB-29. [lower-alpha 4] Returning to base with a runaway propeller [ clarification needed ] on the inboard engine of the right wing, the propeller separated from its shaft and struck the engine beside it, causing both the wing and outboard engine to catch fire. The pilot ordered an immediate bailout, but the aircraft went out of control and only three of the 10-man crew survived. [15] [lower-alpha 5]
In 1965 the 53rd WRS became the first squadron of the Air Weather Service to operate the WC-130 after its designation as such, and from Ramey flew the first WC-130 Hurricane Hunter mission on 27 August 1965, penetrating the eye of Hurricane Betsy. [16]
In the 1970s, after its move to Keesler, the 53rd participated in two "firsts" in the changing of regulations to permit women to be qualify as aircrew. Sgt. Vickiann Esposito became the first female dropsonde operator and possibly the first fully qualified aircrew member (excepting flight nurses) in Air Force history, approved by Headquarters Air Force in December 1973 as a waiver of the regulation prohibiting the assignment of women, over the initial objections of the commanding general of the Air Mobility Command. In October 1977, after the regulation had been rescinded, 1st Lt. Florence Fowler became one of the first two women to be rated as navigators (now combat systems officers). [17] [lower-alpha 6]
In 1976, the 815th Tactical Airlift Squadron of the Air Force Reserve, also based at Keesler, was redesignated the 815th Weather Squadron "Storm Trackers" and served as an associate squadron to the 53rd until 1987, when the 815th reverted to a tactical airlift unit because of reduced numbers of WC-130s. The Regular Air Force's 53rd WRS was inactivated in June 1991 for budgetary reasons and its assets and personnel transferred to the 815th TAS, which formed a flight to assume the weather recon mission while continuing its airlift role as well. On 1 November 1993, as a result of the impact of Hurricane Andrew the year before, the 53rd WRS was reactivated as a full-time Air Force Reserve squadron to take over the weather reconnaissance mission from the 815th AS. [13]
The WC-130H airframes flown by the 53rd WRS were originally built in 1964–65 as C-130Es. Hurricane Andrew had also demonstrated a need for upgraded models to continue the Hurricane Hunter mission, and funding for ten replacements was authorized by Congress in FY1998. On 11 October 1999, the 53rd WRS received its first Lockheed WC-130, and flew its first hurricane mission in the new model on 16 November, into Hurricane Lenny. Problems with the new model, primarily damage to its composite material 6-bladed propellers from hail and ice and a lack of sensitivity in its color radar images, delayed its Initial Operational Capability until just before the 2005 hurricane season. The propeller problem was overcome by bonding a metal sleeve to the leading edge of each blade and the radar issue by changes in the radar software coding. [18]
While in conversion to the new airframe, the unit continued its mission of aerial weather reconnaissance and added a new weather-related mission type in 2003, using the WC-130Js to drop buoys ahead of impending tropical storms. In 2004, the unit started training to support tactical airlift missions in addition to its weather mission. The landfall of Hurricane Katrina on 29 August 2005 caused devastating damage to Keesler. An estimated one-third of the members of the parent 403rd Wing lost a home or had it extensively damaged. [19] Yet the equipment and personnel of the squadron, flying out of Dobbins Air Reserve Base near Atlanta, Georgia when the hurricane struck, never missed a tasked mission during Katrina or follow-up storms. [10]
The operations of the 53rd WRS were affected by the federal budget sequestration of 2013. Furloughs of personnel, amounting to two days in every pay period per member, resulted in a 20% cut in capability, according to the wing commander of the 403rd Wing on 24 July 2013. While sequestration was in effect, this meant the squadron was capable of working only two storms simultaneously at full mission scheduling instead of the normal three, and that pace sustainable only for five or six days. [20]
The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, using the call signs Teal 70 to Teal 79, [lower-alpha 7] flies missions into hurricanes and weather systems for research purposes and observation. Although satellite data has revolutionized weather forecasters' ability to detect early signs of tropical cyclones before they form, there are still many important tasks for which this information is not suitable. Satellites cannot determine the interior barometric pressure of a hurricane, nor provide accurate wind speed information. These data are needed to accurately predict hurricane development and movement. Because satellites cannot collect the data and ships are too slow and vulnerable, the only viable way to collect this information is with aircraft. Meteorological parameters measured, in order of priority, are:
The 53rd WRS is equipped with ten pallet-instrumented [lower-alpha 8] WC-130J aircraft to collect the required meteorological data. [lower-alpha 9] The area of responsibility for the "Hurricane Hunters" is from midway through the Atlantic Ocean west to the Hawaiian Islands, although they have also been tasked to fly into typhoons in the Pacific Ocean on occasion, as well as gather data in winter storms. [lower-alpha 10] The Hurricane Hunters are tasked to support 24-hour-a-day continuous operations with the ability to fly to up to 3 storms at a time with a response time of 16 hours. This necessitates a mission organization of ten full-time aircrews and ten part-time. [23]
The WC-130J employs a standard five person crew element of a pilot, co-pilot, Combat Systems Officer (CSO), aerial reconnaissance weather officer (ARWO), and a weather loadmaster/dropsonde operator, with a second loadmaster assigned when required. The ARWO is the flight meteorologist and acts as flight director inside the storm system. Operational crews train twice monthly at Keesler AFB and fly weather recon missions when available. [23] 53rd WRS pilots and loadmasters go through their initial C-130J training at the 314th Airlift Wing's tactical airlift training center at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas. CSOs and ARWOs from the 53rd WRS have no formal school and train in-house at Keesler utilizing an Air Education and Training Command-approved syllabus for their specialized mission training. [24]
The 53rd WRS uses Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix as its primary forward-deployed location for North Atlantic basin operations. Each May since 1996, when it switched operations from Antigua to the U.S. Virgin Islands to operate from U.S. soil, the squadron prepositions maintenance equipment and materiel at Rohlsen in preparation for the coming season. From July through September three crews are commonly forward-deployed to St. Croix at any given time with rotations of a week's deployment per month. [25]
Since 1969, the 53rd WRS also performs winter storm weather reconnaissance off both coasts of the United States between 1 November and 15 April in support of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. These missions are flown at the WC-130's service ceiling of 30,000 ft (9,100 m), which subjects them to turbulence, lightning and icing. The crews collect data ahead of weather systems, dropping weather buoys along their routes, before they move off the eastern seaboard to help determine if the conditions are right to intensify into Nor'easter blizzards. In 1997 and 1998, the Hurricane Hunters also flew winter storms in the Gulf of Alaska. The predetermined tracks are six to eleven hours in duration, with one to three missions flown per major winter storm event. [26] Coverage of winter storms in the eastern Pacific has become standard during the month of February, operating TDY from either Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, or Hickam AFB, Hawaii. [27]
The 53rd WRS works closely with the National Hurricane Center (NHC), a division of the National Weather Service (NWS) located in Miami, that tracks hurricanes to provide early warning service for Atlantic basin storms. It maintains a subunit, the Chief, Aerial Reconnaissance Coordination, All Hurricanes (CARCAH), at the NHC as a point-of-contact and provides the staff and equipment to coordinate Department of Commerce requirements for hurricane data, assign weather reconnaissance missions and monitor all data transmitted from weather reconnaissance aircraft of DOC and the 53rd WRS. [10] To that end CARCAH is responsible for producing, publishing, and coordinating the Tropical Cyclone Plan of the Day (TCPOD) during hurricane season. [28] [lower-alpha 11]
The 53rd WRS maintains similarly configured satellite communications ground stations within CARCAH at the NHC and its facility at Keesler to receive and process data from the aircraft. The Keesler ground station is maintained as a backup to the primary system at NHC, which has greater data streaming capability, and would be manned by CARCAH personnel in the event of a long-term satellite communications failure at NHC. During temporary outages, 53rd personnel at Keesler act as operators and relay data from the aircraft by land line to the CARCAH ground station. Processed data is transmitted to the Weather Product Management and Distribution System (WPMDS) of the Air Force Weather Agency at Offutt AFB, Nebraska, which then relays it to the NWS Telecommunication Gateway at Silver Spring, Maryland, for worldwide distribution. The Keesler site has direct communications capability with WPMDS in the event of land line/internet failure between Keesler and the NHC. The system also provides backup transmission paths to WPMDS using local NHC servers and satellite connection to Keesler in the event of internet outages, except if an outage originates at Offutt. [29]
When a tropical disturbance becomes suspect for development as a tropical or subtropical cyclone, the NHC assigns the system a temporary tracking ("Investigation") number [lower-alpha 12] and requests the 53rd WRS to determine if the winds are blowing in a counterclockwise rotation, indicating a "closed cyclonic circulation". This investigative mission is flown at an altitude of 500–1,500 ft (150–460 m) above the ocean surface in a pattern designated by the ARWO aboard the mission WC-130 based on observed conditions. [lower-alpha 13] The ARWO, using a stepped-frequency microwave radiometer (SFMR, or "smurf"), [27] [30] [lower-alpha 14] continuously monitors ocean waves to determine wind speed and direction. The low-level wind and pressure fields provide an accurate picture for NHC forecasters. Investigative missions are usually flown during daylight and may be timed to arrive in the investigative area at first light in the morning or last light in the evening. Weak pressure gradients, large areas of calm, and light winds in areas of heavy convective activity often make vortex fixes difficult to obtain in areas of weak circulation, challenging the skills of the crews.
Once NHC determines that there is circulation within the disturbance, the mission becomes a sequentially numbered "fix" mission, conducted initially every six hours by rotating flights in cooperation with NOAA missions, and then at three-hour intervals as the storm moves within specified parameters. [23] [lower-alpha 15] During the "fix" mission, the ARWO directs the aircraft to the true center or vortex of the storm by monitoring the radar presentation, temperature, pressure, and mapping the wind fields as the aircraft makes left-hand turns. Vortices determined by individual parameters including visual observation may not coincide at the same geographic location. Surface and upper-level centers may be displaced by many miles. In order to make a reliable evaluation of its size and configuration, the crew flies through the disturbance using "Flight Pattern Alpha" consisting of intercardinal headings with legs 105 nautical miles (190 km) in length. [lower-alpha 16] The Alpha pattern is repeated at least twice during the mission, which will typically see a penetration of the eye of the system four times. Patterns may also be adjusted to meet circumstances encountered in the system. In August 2011, as Hurricane Irene neared the Delmarva Peninsula between landfalls, a 53rd WRS ARWO directed a pattern with shorter legs and more rapid turnarounds because of the proximity of land, making seven center fixes in one flight. [19] Flight weather data is continuously collected and sent directly to the NHC by satellite communications. Since the WC-130J is not equipped for aerial refueling, the alpha pattern continues until minimum fuel reserve is reached, or until the NHC has received all the data it requires. [23]
Major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher in the Saffir–Simpson scale) are entered at approximately 10,000 ft (3,000 m) altitude. [lower-alpha 17] While penetrating the eyewall, a dropsonde is released to determine the maximum sustained winds at the surface and a second dropsonde is released in the eye to detect the lowest pressure at the surface. After exiting the eye, the ARWO creates a Vortex Data Message that includes the precise latitude and longitude of the storm center as well as its maximum winds, maximum temperature, and minimum sea level pressure. [lower-alpha 18] The average duration of a "Hurricane Hunter" mission is ten hours, with five to six hours on station, depending on the distance of the storm from base, when tasked to perform three fixes at three-hour intervals. [19]
|
|
|
|
Award streamer | Award | Dates | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Meritorious Unit Citation | 23 May 1945 – 31 October 1945 | 3d Reconnaissance Squadron (later 53rd Reconnaissance Squadron) [1] | |
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award | 1 December 1958–30 September 1959 | 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron [1] | |
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award | 1 July 1967 – 30 June 1968 | 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron [1] | |
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award | 1 January 1971 – 31 December 1971 | 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron [1] | |
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award | 1 September 1975 – 1 May 1977 | 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron [1] | |
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award | 16 July 1977 – 16 July 1979 | 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron [1] | |
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award | 17 July 1979 – 15 June 1981 | 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron [1] | |
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award | 1 April 1984 – 31 March 1986 | 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron [1] | |
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award | 1 April 1986 – 31 March 1988 | 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron [1] | |
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award | 1 November 1993 – 30 April 1994 | 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron [1] | |
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award | 1 May 1994 – 30 April 1996 | 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron [1] | |
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award | 1 May 1996 – 31 August 1997 | 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron [1] |
The Weather Channel announced in January 2012 that it would be presenting a six-episode docu-reality series (Hurricane Hunters) in July 2012 depicting the operations of the 53rd WRS during the 2011 hurricane season. [32] However even before its debut, the series and its network were beset by controversy when a 53rd WRS member, Major (then Captain) Nicole L. Mitchell, an ARWO and an on-camera meteorologist for TWC from July 2004 to January 2011, revealed on 4 June 2012 that she had filed suit 9 September 2011 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against The Weather Channel and its owners, NBC Universal and two private equity firms, Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group, claiming that the termination of her employment in 2010 was based on her part-time Air Force Reserve service, was discriminatory and was in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) of 1994. [33] A second nine-segment season, filmed in August and October 2012, aired on The Weather Channel beginning in June 2013. [34] Mitchell subsequently became the Chief Meteorologist at Al Jazeera America and after September 2015 became the only remaining Air Force meteorologist with personal experience flying through Hurricane Katrina.[ citation needed ]
A hurricane hunter aircraft was depicted in the 1974 movie Hurricane, penetrating a hurricane threatening the Gulf Coast in the Louisiana or Mississippi area. Spotting a small pleasure boat within the eye, they returned into the eye to guide a submarine, but the plane was lost in its attempt to exit a second time. The submarine rescued the boat's occupants.
The Lockheed WC-130 is a high-wing, medium-range aircraft used for weather reconnaissance missions by the United States Air Force. The aircraft is a modified version of the C-130 Hercules transport configured with specialized weather instrumentation including a dropsonde deployment/receiver system and crewed by a meteorologist for penetration of tropical cyclones and winter storms to obtain data on movement, size and intensity.
Hurricane hunters, typhoon hunters, or cyclone hunters are aircrews that fly into tropical cyclones to gather weather data. In the United States, the organizations that fly these missions are the United States Air Force Reserve's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Hurricane Hunters. Such missions have also been flown by Navy units and other Air Force and NOAA units. Other organizations also fly these missions, such as Government Flying Service Hong Kong.
Keesler Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Biloxi, a city along the Gulf Coast in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. The base is named in honor of aviator 2d Lt Samuel Reeves Keesler Jr., a Mississippi native killed in France during the First World War. The base is home of Headquarters, Second Air Force and the 81st Training Wing of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC).
A dropsonde is an expendable weather reconnaissance device created by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), designed to be dropped from an aircraft at altitude over water to measure storm conditions as the device falls to the surface. The sonde contains a GPS receiver, along with pressure, temperature, and humidity (PTH) sensors to capture atmospheric profiles and thermodynamic data. It typically relays this data to a computer in the aircraft by radio transmission.
James Louis Franklin is a former weather forecaster encompassing a 35-year career with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He served as the first branch chief of the newly formed Hurricane Specialist Unit (HSU) before his retirement in 2017.
Tropical cyclone observation has been carried out over the past couple of centuries in various ways. The passage of typhoons, hurricanes, as well as other tropical cyclones have been detected by word of mouth from sailors recently coming to port or by radio transmissions from ships at sea, from sediment deposits in near shore estuaries, to the wiping out of cities near the coastline. Since World War II, advances in technology have included using planes to survey the ocean basins, satellites to monitor the world's oceans from outer space using a variety of methods, radars to monitor their progress near the coastline, and recently the introduction of unmanned aerial vehicles to penetrate storms. Recent studies have concentrated on studying hurricane impacts lying within rocks or near shore lake sediments, which are branches of a new field known as paleotempestology. This article details the various methods employed in the creation of the hurricane database, as well as reconstructions necessary for reanalysis of past storms used in projects such as the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis.
Hurricane Guillermo was the ninth-most intense Pacific hurricane on record, attaining peak winds of 160 mph (260 km/h) and a barometric pressure of 919 hPa (27.14 inHg). Forming out of a tropical wave on July 30, 1997, roughly 345 mi (555 km) south of Salina Cruz, Mexico, Guillermo tracked in a steady west-northwestward direction while intensifying. The system reached hurricane status by August 1 before undergoing rapid intensification the following day. At the end of this phase, the storm attained its peak intensity as a powerful Category 5 hurricane. The storm began to weaken during the afternoon of August 5 and was downgraded to a tropical storm on August 8. Once entering the Central Pacific Hurricane Center's area of responsibility, Guillermo briefly weakened to a tropical depression before re-attaining tropical storm status. On August 15, the storm reached an unusually high latitude of 41.8°N before transitioning into an extratropical cyclone. The remnants persisted for more than a week as they tracked towards the northeast and later south and east before being absorbed by a larger extratropical system off the coast of California on August 24.
The National Hurricane Research Project (NHRP) was initiated in 1955 by the United States Weather Bureau in response to the devastating 1954 hurricane season, which saw hurricanes Carol, Edna, and Hazel bring destruction and flooding to New England and the Mid-Atlantic States. Robert Simpson, a Weather Bureau meteorologist who had participated in Air Force hurricane reconnaissance flights as an observer, was appointed as the first director of NHRP and organized the Research Operations Base at Morrison Air Force Base in West Palm Beach, FL in 1956.
The 403rd Wing is a unit of the United States Air Force assigned to the Air Force Reserve Command. It is located at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi and employs a military manning authorization of more than 1,400 reservists, including some 250 full-time air reserve technicians. The 403rd Wing is a subordinate unit of the 22nd Air Force at Dobbins Air Reserve Base.
The 920th Rescue Wing is part of the Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the United States Air Force. The wing is assigned to the Tenth Air Force of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC).
The 815th Airlift Squadron is a flying unit of the United States Air Force assigned to the Air Force Reserve Command and part of the 403d Wing at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. It operates Lockheed C-130J Hercules aircraft providing global airlift.
The NOAA Hurricane Hunters are a group of aircraft used for hurricane reconnaissance by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). They fly through hurricanes to help forecasters and scientists gather operational and research data. The crews also conduct other research projects including ocean wind studies, winter storm research, thunderstorm research, coastal erosion, and air chemistry flights.
The 403rd Operations Group is the operational flying component of the United States Air Force Reserve 403rd Wing. It is stationed at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi.
Weather reconnaissance is the acquisition of weather data used for research and planning. Typically the term reconnaissance refers to observing weather from the air, as opposed to the ground.
Tropical Storm Don was the first tropical cyclone to make landfall in the United States during the 2011 season. The fourth named storm of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Don formed from an area of low pressure along a tropical wave, Don developed into a tropical depression on July 27, and on that same day, was upgraded to tropical storm intensity, based on data from a reconnaissance aircraft noted the presence of tropical-storm-force winds. It tracked across the Gulf of Mexico and reached a peak intensity of 50 mph (85 km/h) before moving ashore in Texas on July 30 as a tropical depression, dissipating shortly afterwards. Initially, Don was expected to provide relief to the state, which was suffering from a major drought. However, the system dissipated rapidly just before making landfall, providing very little in the way of help to the state; rainfall totals were less than 1 in (25 mm).
The history of Atlantic tropical cyclone warnings details the progress of tropical cyclone warnings in the North Atlantic Ocean. The first service was set up in the 1870s from Cuba with the work of Father Benito Viñes. After his death, hurricane warning services were assumed by the US Army Signal Corps and United States Weather Bureau over the next few decades, first based in Jamaica and Cuba before shifting to Washington, D.C. The central office in Washington, which would evolve into the National Meteorological Center and the Weather Prediction Center, assumed the responsibilities by the early 20th century. This responsibility passed to regional hurricane offices in 1935, and the concept of the Atlantic hurricane season was established to keep a vigilant lookout for tropical cyclones during certain times of the year. Hurricane advisories issued every 12 hours by the regional hurricane offices began at this time.
Hurricane Patricia was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere and the second-most intense worldwide in terms of barometric pressure. It also featured the highest one-minute maximum sustained winds ever recorded in a tropical cyclone. Originating from a sprawling disturbance near the Gulf of Tehuantepec in mid-October 2015, Patricia was first classified a tropical depression on October 20. Initial development was slow, with only modest strengthening within the first day of its classification. The system later became a tropical storm and was named Patricia, the twenty-fourth named storm of the annual hurricane season. Exceptionally favorable environmental conditions fueled explosive intensification on October 22. A well-defined eye developed within an intense central dense overcast and Patricia grew from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in just 24 hours—a near-record pace. The magnitude of intensification was poorly forecast and both forecast models and meteorologists suffered from record-high prediction errors.
Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful Cape Verde hurricane that caused extensive damage in the Caribbean and Florida. Lasting from late August to mid-September 2017, the storm was the strongest open-Atlantic tropical cyclone on record and the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands. Classified as the ninth named storm, fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the hyperactive 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, Irma developed from a tropical wave near the Cape Verde Islands on August 30. Favorable conditions allowed the cyclone to become a hurricane on the following day and then rapidly intensify into a major hurricane by September 1 as it moved generally westward across the Atlantic. However, dry air and eyewall replacement cycles disrupted further strengthening, with fluctuations in intensity during the next few days. Irma resumed deepening upon encountering warmer sea surface temperatures, while approaching the Lesser Antilles on September 4. The system reached Category 5 intensity on the following day and peaked with winds of 180 mph (290 km/h) shortly thereafter.
Tropical Storm Beta was a tropical cyclone that brought heavy rainfall, flooding, and severe weather to the Southeastern United States in September 2020. The twenty-third tropical depression and twenty-third named storm of the record-breaking 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, Beta originally formed from a trough of low pressure that developed in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico on September 10. The low moved slowly southwestward, with development hampered initially by the development of nearby Hurricane Sally. After Sally moved inland over the Southeastern United States and weakened, the disturbance became nearly stationary in the southwestern Gulf, where it began to organize. By September 16, the storm had gained a low-level circulation center and had enough organization to be designated as Tropical Depression Twenty-Two. The system held its intensity for a day due to the influence of strong wind shear and dry air, before eventually attaining tropical storm strength. It slowly moved northward and intensified to a mid-range tropical storm before dry air and wind shear halted its intensification. Beta then became nearly stationary on September 19, before starting to move west towards the Texas coast the next day, weakening as it approached. On September 21, Beta made landfall near Matagorda Peninsula, Texas as a minimal tropical storm. It subsequently weakened to a tropical depression the next day before becoming post-tropical early on September 23. Its remnants moved northeastward, before the center elongated and merged with a cold front early on September 25.
Hurricane Iota was the second-most powerful November tropical cyclone on record in the Atlantic basin, behind only the 1932 Cuba hurricane. It was also the strongest and most intense hurricane of the hyperactive 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. At the end of October, a tropical wave emerged off Africa and traversed the Atlantic Ocean with little note. The system later impacted northern South America and the Lesser Antilles before becoming more organized, eventually becoming a tropical depression on November 13 over the Caribbean Sea. Initially stymied by adverse environmental conditions the system, which soon became Tropical Storm Iota, struggled to organize as it took an atypical southwest track. After developing a small, well-organized core, Iota entered region exceptionally favorable for explosive intensification and dramatically developed. Within a 42-hour period from November 15 to 16, Iota strengthened from a tropical storm to a high-end Category 4 hurricane with peak winds of 155 mph (249 km/h). The hurricane's eyewall impacted the Colombian islands of Providencia and Santa Catalina around this time. Moving along a westward course, Iota slowly weakened and eventually made landfall in Nicaragua with winds of 145 mph (233 km/h) in nearly the same location as Hurricane Eta two weeks prior. Once inland, interaction with the region's mountainous terrain caused the system to rapidly deteriorate and its surface circulation dissipated on November 18. Its remnants persisted another day before last being noted southwest of Guatemala.