‘Hurricane Awareness Tour’ Lands on the East Coast With One Gulf Stop
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration | Apr 30, 2024 |
Innovation, Education, Central West FL
Republished here with permission. Original publication date: Apr 23, 2024
Photo ©2023 The Elegant Fowl
NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter plane at Houston’s Ellington Field during the 2023 Hurricane Awareness Tour
Years ago, while having dinner with friends at Galveston’s Olympia Grill on Pier 21, we excused ourselves rather brusquely and bolted out of our seat toward the dock to gaze in wonder at “the NOAA boat.” Social faux pas aside, we marveled at the large white ship. Confession: I am a NOAA nerd. So, yes, last year, upon learning that the agency’s annual ‘Hurricane Awareness Tour’ would stop in Houston, we dropped everything to race to H-town to take a tour of “the NOAA plane.” We arrived in the nick of time – the last in line to board the NOAA WP-3D Orion aircraft. Unlike the 2023 tour, which featured stops all in Gulf states, this year’s tour offers but one Gulf Coast stop: Sanford, Florida. What are you waiting for? – Editor
The Atlantic basin hurricane season begins June 1. During hurricanes, the NOAA WP-3D Orion turboprop aircraft is used primarily by scientists on research missions to study various elements of a hurricane, flying through the eye of the storm several times each flight.
With the 2024 hurricane season fast approaching, NOAA and the U.S. Air Force Reserve will host the 2024 ‘Hurricane Awareness Tour,’ a series of events to help the communities along the East Coast prepare. Media and the public can meet NOAA hurricane experts, scientists and crew members and get a close-up look at some of the aircraft that help forecasters keep us safe — NOAA’s WP-3D and the U.S. Air Force Reserve WC-130J “Hurricane Hunter.”
Tour stops include:
- Portland, Maine: Mon., May 6 – Portland International Airport (public and media invited)
- Albany, New York: Tue., May 7 – Albany International Airport (media invited)
- Norfolk, Virginia: Wed., May 8 – Norfolk International Airport (public and media invited)
- Charleston, South Carolina: Thu., May 9 – Charleston International Airport (media invited)
- Sanford, Florida: Fri., May 10 – Orlando/Sanford International Airport (public and media invited)
The goal of these annual tours – and the public safety fair accompanying each stop – is to raise awareness of the impacts from tropical cyclones threats and the danger of being caught without a personal hurricane plan.