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‘Hurricane Awareness Tour’ Lands on the East Coast With One Gulf Stop

‘Hurricane Awareness Tour’ Lands on the East Coast With One Gulf Stop

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.

Read More at National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

About The Source

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

NOAA’s mission to better understand our natural world and protect its precious resources extends beyond national borders to monitor global weather and climate. The agency helps shape international ocean, fisheries, climate, space, and weather policies and works to predict and respond to changes in climate and other environmental challenges.

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