U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt.
Heather Heiney offers the below piece:
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE,
Miss., Aug. 25, 2017 — Hurricane Harvey began as a scattered collection of
clouds drifting across the Atlantic Ocean and in just over a week it has
developed into a Category 3 storm.
Members of the Air Force
Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron based here, better known as the
Hurricane Hunters, have been investigating Hurricane Harvey since Aug. 17. The
data they’ve collected every day has contributed to the National Hurricane
Center’s ability to determine the intensity of the storm and predict where it
could go.
Hurricane Harvey is predicted
to make landfall in the vicinity of Corpus Christi on the Texas coast late
tonight or early tomorrow, according to news reports.
President Donald J. Trump and
his senior staff are closely monitoring Hurricane Harvey and the preparedness
and response efforts of state, local, and federal officials, according to a
statement issued by the White House today.
Today, the president was
briefed by Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long, Acting
Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke, Homeland Security and
Counterterrorism Advisor Thomas P. Bossert, and White House Chief of Staff John
F. Kelly, the White House statement said.
Yesterday, the president
committed to providing assistance as appropriate during phone conversations
with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, according to
the statement.
Each 53rd WRS storm mission
is flown in a WC-130J Super Hercules aircraft by a crew made up of at least two
pilots, a navigator, an aerial reconnaissance weather officer and a loadmaster.
Many of these Air Force reservists travel from around the country to be a part
of the mission, and only a small percent of the squadron are full-time air
reserve technicians. The rest are traditional reservists who show up when
called upon and put their civilian jobs and home lives on hold to fly into
storms.
Monitoring Harvey
During the 10 flights into
Hurricane Harvey so far, the reservists have flown through the eye of the storm
dozens of times. During each pass through the eye, the loadmaster releases a
device called a dropsonde that measures wind speed and direction, temperature,
dew point and pressure. Data collected transmitted to the NHC every ten minutes
throughout the duration of the mission.
“The data we collect is
essential to the NCH right now because the capabilities of satellites and
drones are just not there yet,” said Air Force Maj. Kimberly Spusta, a 53rd WRS
aerial reconnaissance weather officer. “To go into the center of the storm to
get that data is critical, so the NHC can have the most accurate forecasts
possible.”
Hurricane Harvey in
particular is a quickly developing storm. After entering the warm waters of the
Gulf of Mexico, it took less than 24 hours for the system to grow from a
tropical depression into a hurricane.
“As the Hurricane Hunters our
data is time sensitive and critical for the NHC,” said Air Force Maj. Kendall
Dunn, a 53rd WRS pilot. “This storm is rapidly intensifying. Between the last
flight that landed and our flight taking off, the conditions have changed, so
it’s important that we continue to send the NCH the most current and accurate
data we can.”
Past Storms
Air Force Col. Robert
Stanton, 403rd Wing vice commander, said that it’s important to take NHC
watches and warnings seriously, because he’s seen, firsthand, the damage that a
storm like Hurricane Katrina caused after it made landfall on the Gulf Coast in
late August 2005.
“There were so many people
that thought because their home had made it through Hurricane Camille in 1969
that they were safe,” he said. “But even though Katrina was only a Category 3
storm and Camille was a [Category 5], the amount of water that she swept up the
Gulf Coast was devastating.”
The 53rd WRS will continue to
fly Hurricane Harvey and collect data until the storm makes landfall.
To stay
up to date on the most current forecast and tasked missions visit
https://www.403wg.afrc.af.mil/media/hurricane-center.
Note: In the above U.S. Air
Force photo taken by Staff Sgt. Heather Heiney the sun sets just outside
Hurricane Harvey during a flight into the storm by the 53rd Weather
Reconnaissance Squadron’s Hurricane Hunters out of Keesler Air Force Base, Miss
on, Aug. 24, 2017
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