Air Force Hurricane Hunters have just 10 aging WC-130Js to fly an increasing number of missions gathering life-saving data for decision-makers before a storm.
A mockup of a 30-centimeter-long satellite on a shelf in the lobby of Blue Canyon Technologies may not look like much, but it represents a new approach to weather reconnaissance that could one day render one of the Air Force’s earliest missions obsolete. The three-unit, ...
MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., closed its gates to non-mission-essential personnel and sent its KC-135s to Kansas as Tropical Storm Elsa approached Florida. MacDill moved to Hurricane Condition 2-Non-Evacuation the morning of July 6, expecting wind gusts of 60 mph, more than eight inches of ...
The Hurricane Hunters of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron flew their first sortie of the winter storm season, just weeks after wrapping their busiest hurricane season on record. The WC-130Js are tasked by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, part of the National Oceanic and ...
Air Force bases in the southeastern United States are again hunkering down for a hurricane aimed at the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Delta, a Category 4 storm that may still strengthen, is slated to hit southeast Louisiana on Oct. 9 and cause a “life-threatening storm surge ...
As Hurricane Sally strengthens to a Category 2 storm, Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., near the storm's expected landfall, has elevated its hurricane preparedness level, alerting base personnel to secure loose objects outside and prepare for potential evacuation. The storm is expected to make landfall ...
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, returned to normal operations after Hurricane Douglas passed by the Hawaiian Islands as a Category One storm on July 26. The storm, which reached maximum sustained winds of about 90 miles per hour, passed north of the islands moving west, ...
The Hurricane Hunters got an early start to the 2020 Atlantic season, flying into Tropical Storm Arthur as it formed in the Atlantic on May 16. Arthur approached the Carolinas on May 18, making this the sixth consecutive year there has been a named storm ...
The “Hurricane Hunters” of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron wrapped up the 2019 hurricane season at the end of November, having flown more hours this year than the previous year. The WC-130s, of the Keesler AFB, Miss.-based unit flew more than 684 hours, totaling 80 ...