Hurricane Hunters prep for upcoming storm season

United States Air Force: Members of the Air Force Reserve Command's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron deployed to their detachment here recently to fly training missions over the Caribbean in preparation for the 2009 hurricane season. Unit Airmen are part of the 403rd Wing located at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., and are the only Department of Defense unit flying into tropical storms and hurricanes collecting critical data.

During the next months, until Nov. 30, the Hurricane Hunters will be honing their skills in special WC-130J Hercules aircraft, ready to fly when called upon by people in the liaison office at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Hurricane Center in Miami. The Airmen are the only ones in the Air Force authorized to fly in thunderstorms,

"We can be deployed within 16 hours after the call (from the NOAA liaison office)," said Lt. Col. Louis Patriquin, the 403rd Operations Group commander.

Their mission is to collect storm data and send to the hurricane center for forecasters to plug into computer models for better forecasting predictions. According to AFRC officials, one hurricane mission can pay for itself and more by the money it saves in unnecessary coastal evacuations. For example, officials estimate that it costs about $1 million to evacuate the residents of a single coastal mile.

If the 53rd WRS Airmen can reduce the evacuation area by 100 miles, the squadron's entire flying budget is covered by one hurricane. Money and lives also are saved by not evacuating people who aren't in the storm's path. Evacuating people can cause deaths, not just from the storm, according to Bill Reid, National Weather Service director. Pinpointing accurate landfall is paramount for all…

A Hurricane Hunter touring the eye of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, NOAA