NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter Squad: More Than Meets the Eye
NOAA ‘WP-3D Orion N43RF Miss Piggy’ flies through Tropical Storm Idalia, August, 2023 Photo ©2023 NOAA Nick Underwood
As we hold our breath and hang on tight for our Gulf Coast friends in the path of Hurricane Helene, let’s take some comfort in knowing that NOAA Hurricane Hunters are on their side. This quick glance at the history of this part of the NOAA Corps shows how the aviators and scientists who work on the world’s most innovative weather fleet fly on both a razor’s edge and the leading edge of technology. – Editor
The howling winds, blinding rain, and violent updrafts of a hurricane are incredibly dangerous from the ground – but imagine flying a plane directly into the eye of the storm. In order to collect life-saving data and information, NOAA pilots, planes and researchers fly into the world’s worst weather. Hurricane Hunters pilot specially-equipped aircraft into developing hurricanes, risking their lives to track these treacherous storms.
Data collected by the agency’s high-flying meteorological stations help forecasters make accurate predictions during a hurricane. These predictions help hurricane researchers achieve a better understanding of storm processes, improving their forecast models.
On September 11, 1961, Hurricane Carla made landfall on the coast of eastern Texas, causing torrential rains and extreme wind gusts. Known as the most intense and damaging hurricane to ever hit Texas, Hurricane Carla is historically significant for another reason: It was the first tropical cyclone to have its entire life history recorded by research flights. Throughout its evolution as a tropical depression, cyclone, and eventual hurricane, Weather Bureau aircraft flew investigatory missions into the storm and tracked its growing intensity and the conditions of the atmosphere.
The meteorological data collected during the first few years of flights helped scientists worldwide gain a better understanding of hurricanes, the atmosphere, and how the two interact.
