53rd WRS completes third busiest hurricane season on record

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Tabitha Dupas
  • 403rd Wing Public Affairs
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, MISS. --  The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron flew nearly 1,300 hours and roughly 150 storms between its missions in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans during the 2010 Hurricane Season.

Nineteen named storms formed in the Atlantic, tying 2010 with 1887 and 1995 as the third busiest in recorded history. Of the storms named, 12 became hurricanes and five of those were logged as major (Category 3 or higher). The season did break a 1999 record in which four hurricanes reached Category 4 status within 24 days of each other, this year it took only 20 days.

"As NOAA forecasters predicted, the Atlantic hurricane season was one of the most active on record, though fortunately most storms avoided the U.S. For that reason, you could say the season was a gentle giant," said Jack Hayes, Ph.D., director of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's National Weather Service.

The 53rd WRS flew into one hundred of the storms that developed this year.

"We map the entire hurricane underneath it with an instrument on the airplane," said Lt. Col. Jon Talbot, 53rd WRS aerial reconnaissance weather officer. "That is crucial data for emergency managers ... and the only way (to collect it) is by flying an aircraft into a hurricane."

Members of the 53rd WRS found themselves double tasked this season as they flew NOAA NWS missions in the Atlantic and data collection missions for the Office of Naval Research in the Pacific.

The Pacific, which broke the record for lowest storms recorded (only seven), was the backdrop for research being conducted by ONR on the Impact of Typhoons on the Ocean in the Pacific.

According the Lt. Col. Roy Deatherage, 53rd ARWO, out of the Hurricane Hunters' 10 planes and 20 crews, two planes and crews were working out of Guam as part of the ITOP project. The members collected data above and below the surface for the ONR team to study the effect of the wake of a typhoon.

"The men and women of the 53rd WRS, 403rd Ops and Maintenance Groups successfully supported the NHC's local Atlantic requirements while, at teh same time supporting ITOP from Guam," said Colonel Talbot. "Their dedication and can-do attitude directly contributed to the successful completion of the hurricane season."

Both missions kept the Hurricane Hunters busy throughout the 2010 season and only time will tell if next year will bring more of the same. Until then, the squadron is already in the beginning weeks of the Winter Storm Reconnaissance program.