Georges
moved off the African coast on 13 September, rapidly going from depression
to tropical storm to hurricane in <4 days. By 17 September Georges was
an intensifying hurricane within 3-4 days of striking the US Virgin Islands
and Puerto Rico. NHC tasked the NOAA G-IV for a surveillance
mission around Georges on 18 September. HRD and AOC planned a 3-aircraft
(WP-3Ds and the G-IV) synoptic surveillance mission as Georges approached
the Windward Islands.
On 18 September the G-IV flew a single-aircraft synoptic surveillance mission as part of the ferry flight, landing in St Croix, and the WP-3Ds ferried to Barbados dropping some sondes in support of the G-IV mission. On 19 September the three airplanes flew a combined synoptic surveillance mission successfully. Both WP-3D aircraft made three penetrations with 50 nm radius legs of the intense core (category 4, 936 mb central pressure, >130 kt winds), one early in the pattern and the second late. Both aircraft dropped multiple GPS sondes in the core rainbands and eyewall. The G-IV landed in Bermuda, away from the projected path of the storm, and the WP-3Ds back in Barbados. The aircraft did not fly on Sunday 20 September as the storm entered the lesser Antilles.
GPS dropsonde (HSA) data format
| Storm/ Date | Aircraft (Duration) | Altitude | Experiment | Comments (expendables) |
| Georges | ||||
| 18 September | G-IV (9 h) N42RF (7h) mission summary |
41 kft 16-23 kft |
2-plane Synoptic Surveillance |
|
| 19 September | G-IV (9 h) N42RF (9.5 h) mission summary N43RF (9 h) mission summary WC-130 |
41 kft 16-23 kft 10-23 kft 5000 ft |
3-plane Synoptic Surveillance with inner core patterns for each a/c. N42RF (early) and N43RF (late) each aircraft flew three 50 nm radius legs in core. AFRES recon. |
(2 WP-3D: 59 GPS sondes, ~25 AXBTs) |
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On 21 September, all three aircraft again flew a 3-plane synoptic surveillance mission, with one WP-3D flying a pattern focused on the core of Georges' vortex as it crossed St. Croix and approached the eastern end of Puerto Rico, and the other WP-3D and the G-IV flying synoptic surveillance. All three airplanes landed at Opalocka. The WP-3D flying the core made three penetrations of the eye with 60 nm radius legs, finding that the storm had weakened considerable due to increased upper level wind shear affecting the inner core. They found a very asymmetric reflectivity and wind field at all levels. The NASA DC-8 and ER-2, with only a two days left to fly, joined in the surveillance mission on the 21st focusing on the core, joint with the WP-3D mission.
| Storm/ Date | Aircraft (Duration) | Altitude | Experiment | Comments (expendables) |
| Georges | ||||
| 21 September | G-IV (9 h) N42RF (9.5 h) mission summary N43RF (9 h) mission summary WC-130 DC-8 (8 h) mission summary ER-2 (7 h) |
41 kft 16-23 kft 18-23 kft 5000 ft 37 kft 65 kft |
3-plane Synoptic Surveillance with coordinated XCDX inner core pattern. N42RF (early) three 60 nm radius legs in core and N43RF (late) . AFRES recon. DC-8 and ER-2 inner core pattern over storm |
(2 WP-3D: 35 GPS sondes, ~12 AXBTs) |
On 22 September, one WP-3D and the G-IV flew a 4th synoptic surveillance mission around Georges as it crossed Hispaniola, in conjunction with the NASA DC-8 and ER-2. The second WP-3D was held in reserve so that it would be available to fly operational reconnaissance as the storm was forecast to enter Cuban water the next day. The DC-8 and ER-2 penetrated the storm over Hispaniola, with the DC-8 moving to the S of Hispaniola to do an inflow pattern, while the DC-8 stayed over Hispaniola monitoring the storm as it interacted with the 9-10,000 ft mountains in Haiti. The ER-2 pilot reported a spectacular lightning show as the eye gradually filled in and the convection got very vigorous.
| Storm/ Date | Aircraft (Duration) | Altitude | Experiment | Comments (expendables) |
| Georges | ||||
| 22 September | G-IV (9 h) N43RF (9.5 h) mission summary WC-130 DC-8 (8 h) mission summary ER-2 (7 h) |
41 kft 18-23 kft 5000 ft 37 kft 65 kft |
2-plane Synoptic Surveillance N43RF S of Hispaniola while eye over land . AFRES recon. DC-8 LASE WV profiles in inflow S of Hispaniola ER-2 core pattern in storm over Hispaniola |
|
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On 23 September the G-IV flew a fifth synoptic surveillance mission while the WP-3D aircraft began a series of 5 straight reconnaissance missions while Georges crossed the Windward Passage into Cuban waters.
| Storm/ Date | Aircraft (Duration) | Altitude | Experiment | Comments (expendables) |
| Georges | ||||
| 23 September | G-IV (9 h) N42RF (9.5 h) mission summary N43RF (9.5 h) |
41 kft 5000 ft |
Synoptic Surveillance N42RF Recon. early W of Hispaniola . N43RF Recon. late E around eastern Cuba |
|
The reconn flights, needed to fill in for Air Force Reserve WC-130s which cannot enter Cuban airspace. The first WP-3D flew reconnaissance in and out of Opalocka on the evening of 23 September in the Windward passage; the second and third WP-3D flew a beach patrol on 24 September while the center was over land in SE Cuba; the fourth reconn flight was in the FL straights on 25 September as the storm started to approach Key West, FL. The fifth reconn mission also on the 25th ended up being a landfall mission over the lower Keys. We were able to get true dual Doppler winds by coordinating the aircraft radials with the Key West WSR-88D. We also dropped GPS sondes to get reliable low-level winds. The NASA ER-2 joined this mission over the FL Keys. All of the reconn missions were carried out despite having only two crews and aircraft, having to move crews from Miami to Tampa and then to Savannah, GA as Georges first threatened S FL, and then Tampa (forcing the closing of MacDill AFB. At the same time the ER-2 had to relocate to Warner Robbins AFB in Macon, GA. The G-IV continued doing surveillance mission around the storm on the 23rd, 25th, and 26th hopscotching from Miami to MacDill, to Savannah, to Corpus Christi, TX.
| Storm/ Date | Aircraft (Duration) | Altitude | Experiment | Comments (expendables) |
| Georges | ||||
| 24 September | N42RF (9.5 h) | 5000 ft | N42RF Recon. around eastern Cuba GPS dropsondes |
|
| 25 September | G-IV (9 h) N43RF (9.5 h) mission summary N42RF (9.5 h) mission summary ER-2 (7h) mission summary |
41 kft 5000 ft 5000 ft 65 kft |
Synoptic Surveillance N43RF Recon. as storm moved off Cuba. N42RF Recon. over FL Keys ER-2 inner core pattern over storm with N42RF |
|
The G-IV did one final surveillance mission over the Gulf of Mexico on 26 September. CAMEX-3 had one final ER-2 flight during the day 27 September to fly a TRMM overpass over the storm and do radial legs from the WSR-88Ds at Slidell and Mobile.
| Storm/ Date | Aircraft (Duration) | Altitude | Experiment | Comments (expendables) |
| Georges | ||||
| 26 September | G-IV (9 h) WC-130 |
41 kft 5000 ft |
Synoptic Surveillance AFRES recon. |
|
| 27 September | WC-130 ER-2 (7 h) mission summary |
5000 ft 65 kft |
AFRES recon. ER-2 TRMM patterns working with KEVX and KLIX |
|
HRD and AOC flew two WP-3D sorties straddling the expected landfall time of 1200 Z 28 September (it sat on the coast between 11-1400 Z). The first mission from 0300-1200 Z dropped GPS sondes over C-MAN sights and worked dual Doppler legs with the 2 OU DOWS and the WSR-88Ds, and the second mission from 0900-1800Z focussed on mapping the storm surge with the SRA along the coast from Mobile Bay to Slidell and dual-Doppler with the WSR-88Ds and DOWs. The two University of Oklahoma/NCAR (OU) DOWs were stationed in Mississippi, one in Biloxi and the other in Gulfport. The University of Alabama/Huntsville (UAH) portable profiler was in Lyman, MS 6 nm N of Gulfport, and the Texas Tech (TTU) portable instrumented tower was in Biloxi. As the storm circulation made landfall N43RF did Fig-4s over land and the nearby water with N-S legs bisecting the DOW baseline and E-W legs along the beach mapping the storm surge with the SRA. Two other portable instrumented towers from Clemson University and OU were located 60 nm to the W at Slidell, LA (location of the WSR-88D), while about 50 nm to the E two OU portable mesonets were moving up and down I-10 between Pascagoula, MS and Mobile, AL (location of the second WSR-88D). With this array of instrumentation, Georges became the best sampled landfalling hurricane ever.
| Storm/ Date | Aircraft (Duration) | Altitude | Experiment | Comments (expendables) |
| Georges | ||||
| 28 September | N42RF (9.5 h) mission summary N43RF (9.5 h) mission summary WC-130 |
14 kft 7000 ft 10 kft |
Hurricanes at Landfall N43RF late: legs toward KMOB, KEVX and KLIX, plus SRA runs along Gulf coast from Pensacola to Lake Ponchartrain for storm surge AFRES recon. |
(2 WP-3D: 69 GPS sondes, 15 AXBT) |
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