Hurricane Hunters complete week-long awareness tour

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Brian Lamar
  • 403rd Wing Public Affairs
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  Air Force Reservists with the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron "Hurricane Hunters" with National Hurricane Center partners completed a week-long hurricane awareness tour ranging from Halifax, Canada, to Marathon, Florida, May 3-8.

"The purpose of our mission this week is to remind citizens of the importance of being prepared for anything Mother Nature throws their way," said Maj. Ivan DeRoche, 53rd WRS pilot and mission commander for the tour.

"Getting the hurricane preparedness message out is not an easy task; you have to get people's attention. The planes are a crowd draw. It grabs their attention and shows them that they need to take this information seriously," said Dr. Richard Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center.

The tour stops were: Halifax, Canada; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Norfolk, Virginia; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and St. Augustine and Marathon, Florida.

While in the six cities, Hurricane Hunters visited with more than 10,000 visitors from the general public, in addition to 1,500 schoolchildren, hundreds of emergency managers and city leadership and a handful of congressional members and their staff.

The visitors received briefings and toured a WC-130J Hurricane Hunter aircraft.
Head Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Craig Fugate also was briefed by Hurricane Hunter crewmembers and toured a WC-130J May 5th in Norfolk, Virginia. During his tour, Fugate stopped to speak with members of the crew and NHC to offer words of encouragement.

"Contrary to what people think, without the Hurricane Hunters, the National Hurricane Center can't do what they do.... Some people think drones and satellites can do the job, but the best forecasts come from within the storm with real data. The information that the weather reconnaissance squadron gathers from putting a dropsonde into the core of a storm is invaluable and can't be duplicated," said Fugate.

To add to the urgency of the severe weather preparedness and awareness messages while on the tour, the aircrew received notification that a storm was brewing in the Atlantic and was projected to make U.S. landfall. As the Hurricane Hunters left their fourth stop at Myrtle Beach, they received word that the storm, which later became Tropical Storm Ana, was intensifying and would possibly make landfall in Myrtle Beach. Ana did in fact hit the Myrtle Beach area in the early morning of May 10.

"I think the location of the storm's projected landfall, the timing of our tour and the storm being so early in the year and outside of the normal season highlighted to Myrtle Beach that there is always a need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario," said Lt. Leesa Froelich, a 53rd WRS aerial reconnaissance weather officer who participated in the tour. "Mother Nature helped make our point for us," she said.

With today's fiscally constrained environment, tough decisions are made to determine the value of outreach venues like the Hurricane Awareness Tour, but Dr. Knabb believes the decision to attend is the right choice.

"The cost of a hurricane awareness tour is tiny in comparison to the cost of a community not being prepared. Outreach and education is a core part of the Nation Weather Service mission. Life, property and safety is what the Air Force is about, and that is why our partnership in this is important," said Knabb. "I have an open invitation for the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron to attend the entire hurricane awareness tour year after year."

The tour ended in Marathon, Florida, on Friday May 8, and then the Hurricane Hunters headed back to their home at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, to continue preparing for the upcoming season, and with the hope that some of their messages were taken into consideration as storm season approaches.

"Keeping your family safe is our number one priority. If we were able to reach at least one person and that person moves their family out of harm's way, then this whole week will be worth it for me," said Froelich.