Thanks to Hurricane Hunters

On a day when some in the Mid-Atlantic are getting ready for whatever Hurricane Hermine throws our way later this weekend into early next week I do want to pause a moment and thank all the #Hurricane Hunters who have been flying this storm and others. I don't know about you, but airplanes and weather bring out the geek in me. First if you or your loved ones are living in areas that may be impacted by Hermine, you may want to check out the National Hurricane Center Website as well as you local National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office.

If you are want to know more about any current missions being flown by the Hurricane Hunters, you may find a list of today's and tomorrow's missions on the NHC Aircraft Recon Page, check under plan of the day at the top of the page. For example, here is today's (September 2nd's) potential Hurricane Hunter Missions (I believe that the Teal designation refers to Hurricane Hunters from the USAF 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron:

000
NOUS42 KNHC 021457
REPRPD
WEATHER RECONNAISSANCE FLIGHTS
CARCAH, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER, MIAMI, FL.
1100 AM EDT FRI 02 SEPTEMBER 2016
SUBJECT: TROPICAL CYCLONE PLAN OF THE DAY (TCPOD)
         VALID 03/1100Z TO 04/1100Z SEPTEMBER 2016
         TCPOD NUMBER.....16-099

I.  ATLANTIC REQUIREMENTS

    1. TROPICAL STORM HERMINE
       FLIGHT ONE - TEAL 71           FLIGHT TWO - TEAL 72
       A. 03/1730Z,2330Z              A. 04/0530Z
       B. AFXXX 1509A HERMINE         B. AFXXX 1609A HERMINE
       C. 03/1430Z                    C. 04/0215Z
       D. 36.0N 75.3W                 D. 37.1N 73.0W
       E. 03/1700Z TO 03/2330Z        E. 04/0500Z TO 04/0800Z
       F. SFC TO 10,000 FT            F. SFC TO 10,000 FT

    2. SUCCEEDING DAY OUTLOOK: CONTINUE 6-HRLY FIXES WHILE 
       SYSTEM REMAINS A THREAT

II. PACIFIC REQUIREMENTS

    1. HURRICANE LESTER
       FLIGHT ONE - TEAL 76           FLIGHT TWO - TEAL 77
       A. 03/1800Z, 04/0000Z          A. 04/0600Z,1200Z
       B. AFXXX  0713E LESTER         B. AFXXX 0813E LESTER
       C. 03/1630Z                    C. 04/0515Z
       D. 21.7N 154.5W                D. 22.4N 157.3 
       E. 03/1730Z  TO 04/0000Z       E. 04/0530Z,1200Z
       F. SFC TO 10,000 FT            F. SFC TO 10,000 FT

    2. OUTLOOK FOR SUCCEEDING DAY.....NEGATIVE.

$$
JWP

NNNN

Finally if you want information on Hurricane Hunter flights in progress, or past flights, go to Live Recon in the Atlantic. You can either use your browser by clicking Cesium (no plug in required) or you may download a plug-in for Google Earth. I have just recently started using Cesium and it is very easy to use. I downloaded an image for you from Hurricane Hunter Mission 14 into Hermine flown by USAF (C-130J) 304. If you are looking at this in your browser, you can zoom in and you can click on different observations (the wind flags, the dropsnodes (cylindrical objects) to get the data. Pretty cool stuff.

Hurricane Hunter Mission 14 into Hermine flown by USAF 304 (C-130J)

Stay safe Hurrican Hunters and thanks for your service!!