NOAA and Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters continue around the clock monitoring of Hurricane Delta as it traverses the Gulf of Mexico. Overnight flights on October 7 through midday October 8 found that Delta’s circulation is intensifying and expanding in size.
NOAA aircraft reconnaissance continued for Major Hurricane Delta on October 6, capturing the system’s quick maturation overnight. P-3 and G-IV missions are scheduled every 12 and 24 hours from Lakeland, FL. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) tasked NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters to identify the location and strength of the circulation center, and to survey the atmospheric conditions nearby and ahead of Delta. Instrumentation onboard the aircraft have sampled the system’s development, revealing a 55 knot rapid intensification in just 24 hours.
Aircraft reconnaissance operations began October 5 to investigate the location and strength of Tropical Storm Delta’s circulation. Tasked by the National Hurricane Center (NHC), NOAA’s P-3 aircraft took off at 1 PM EDT from Lakeland, FL.
After a week of daily map discussions led by student forecasters at the University at Albany-SUNY, as part of AOML’s Hurricane Field Program, NOAA interest in Tropical Storm Gamma has resulted in planned reconnaissance missions starting at 5 AM EDT on Saturday, October 3.
NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters continue reconnaissance for Major Hurricane Teddy, conducting numerous science experiments developed by AOML and its collaborators.
AOML’s Hurricane Research Division tasked all three NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft to perform science operations into Hurricane Teddy, now a category-3 tropical cyclone and still intensifying in the mid-Atlantic.
NOAA’s P-3 aircraft wraps up its sequence of missions into Hurricane Sally prior to the system’s eventual landfall along the central Gulf Coast. Tasked by the National Hurricane Center (NHC), its final flight took off on September 15 at 9:30 EDT from Lakeland, FL.
NOAA’s G-IV and two P-3 Hurricane Hunter aircraft took off from Lakeland, FL at 10:30 AM, 1:30 PM and 4:30 PM EDT on September 14th to investigate Hurricane Sally’s circulation. AOML scientists providing onboard and remote support for these missions ensure that Tail Doppler Radar, dropsonde, and Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR) measurements allow for adequate coverage of the storm environment.
A very active peak in this year’s Atlantic hurricane season has prompted NOAA’s National Hurricane Center (NHC), Environmental Modeling Center (EMC), and AOML’s Hurricane Research Division to task their G-IV and both P-3 aircraft to investigate multiple storms in the Gulf of Mexico and mid-Atlantic.
NOAA’s P-3 Hurricane Hunter aircraft completed a flight into Tropical Storm Nana in the Caribbean on the morning of September 2. AOML scientists onboard the aircraft, and from the ground, quality controlled and sent dropsonde and radar data to the Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) and National Hurricane Center (NHC) in real time.
