NORFOLK, Va. — The Hurricane Awareness Tour, made a stop at Norfolk International Airport just ahead of Hurricane Season.
"What an amazing opportunity to bring the Hurricane Hunters out here, both NOAA and the U.S. Air Force," said Director of the National Weather Service Ken Graham. "These are the heroes that go into the storm to get the data that we need at the National Hurricane Center and across the Weather Service to help us issue those forecasts, not just intensity, but where the hurricane is going to go."
"They collect some of the most valuable data that we get in tropical storms and hurricanes at the Hurricane Center," said Michael Brennan, the Director of the National Hurricane Center. "Really forms the foundation for our whole forecast process."
"Basically, it's a standard C-130 aircraft, that has been slightly modified for the weather mission," explained Ryan Smithies, the Pilot of the WC-130J "Hurricane Hunter."
"Four jet engines propelling four propellers and that is on purpose because those do better in the high precipitation environment in an eyewall," said Mission Commander, Major Alex Boykin. "We collect data in three different ways. Number 1 is the airplane itself. In our nose, we've got our Doppler radar, Number 2 is a Stepped-Frequency Radiometer. It is measuring everything happening at the surface of the water. Number 3 are the dropsondes that we launch out from a torpedo tube that parachute out and they are measuring the atmospheric conditions from the bottom of the plane to the water surface."
"Once we get to the storm environment, you never know what you're going to get," said Smithies. "Typically, the worst rides for me in my experience are those that are less organized. I've flown category 5 storms that have had no turbulence at all. It's just kind of light to moderate rain and you're just flying through a steady state hurricane that's spinning like a top on a table."
Smithies's also had storms that have thrown them around for six hours straight.
"In 2023, I think we had about 1,000 flights," said Smithies. "And that was a slow year."
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Smithies said an average mission is 10 to12 hours. It usually takes about three hours to get from where they're launching to the storm environment. He said, they'll be in the storm environment for five to five-and-a-half hours.
"I do it because I care about the weather mission," said Smithies. "It's hyper-important to the safety of all residents of this country."
Hurricane season officially starts on June 1st and goes all the way through November 30th.
