Hurricane Hunters Flying Felix

  • Published
  • By 403rd Wing Public Affairs
  • 403rd Wing
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss --  The Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters are currently deployed to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands where they are flying state-of-the-art WC-130J aircraft into Hurricane Felix in support of the National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Felix very quickly became a monstrous category five hurricane in a matter of days and its path is ominously close to that of Hurricane Dean that hit the Mexico shoreline causing wind damage and flooding.

The data collected by the Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters led the National Hurricane Center to name the storm initially and incrementally raise the intensity to five, the strongest category for a storm.

The Hurricane Hunters recorded Felix's minimum central pressure at 28.387 inches, moving toward the west-northwest at 18 mph, with sustained winds increasing to 165 mph. Felix is a major Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The National Hurricane Center expects the storm to affect Honduras with a direct hit to Belize in the next few days.  Another reconnaissance mission is scheduled for tonight and the unit will continue rotating aircraft through the storm until it is no longer a threat.

The 2007 season started with Sub-Tropical Storm Andrea on May 9. Since then, the season has been slow, which has allowed more aircraft to be equipped with the Stepped- Frequency Microwave Radiometer, affectionately called the 'smurf'.

Hurricane Hunters are using the 'smurf' technology on flights in to Hurricane Felix. The 'smurf' allows the Citizen Airman of the Hurricane Hunters to constantly measure surface winds directly below the aircraft. The 'smurf' can also determine rainfall rates within a storm system. This, in addition to wind speeds at flight level provides structural detail of the storm.

"The SFMR will be the biggest advance I can think of to improve hurricane intensity forecasts," said Max Mayfield, former director of the NHC.

The data collected by the Hurricane Hunters increase the accuracy of the NHC forecast by 30 percent, a rate which will undoubtedly increase with the use of the 'smurf.' This data enables the NHC to more accurately predict the path of storms in order to save lives and narrow areas of evacuation, according to NHC forecasters.

One WC-130J aircraft will be equipped with the SFMR each month until all 10 WC-130J aircraft are outfitted with the SFMR pod.