Lisa Bucci was honored this month for her courageous work last year during Hurricane Irma. Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful and catastrophic hurricane — the most intense storm to strike the U.S. coastline since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. On the morning of September 7, 2017, the NOAA National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued hurricane watches for southeast Florida, noting that Irma was “a life-threatening situation,” and that, “everyone in these areas should take all actions to protect life and property from rising water and wind.” After Lisa and her team quickly secured their own homes and ensured the safety of their families, Lisa served as the science team lead on NOAA P3 missions into Hurricane Irma, on September 8th and 9th. These missions gathered invaluable data crucial for the numerical forecast models. Lisa and her team’s heroic efforts provided the information necessary to make accurate forecasts that ultimately saved countless lives and property during this potentially catastrophic event.
Congratulations to Lisa!
