53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron flies into Hurricane Beryl
The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron (WRS), part of the US Air Force Reserve’s 403 Wing, has been flying data-gathering missions into Hurricane Beryl; the strongest hurricane to develop in the Atlantic so early in the year.
The National Hurricane Centre tasked the ‘Hurricane Hunters’ (based in Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi) to fly into the storm in a series of scientific missions, with the unit having flown five sorties as of 2 June. “The latest pass this morning into Beryl put it at a Category 5, with 165 mile per hour sustained winds,” explained Lt. Col. Jeffrey Mitchell, 53rd WRS, assistant director of operations.
The 53rd WRS’ mission is unique to the US Department of Defense (DoD) as they are the only unit that flies into tropical weather events for the purpose of data collection. To support the National Hurricane Operations Plan and the National Winter Season Operations Plan, the squadron operates ten WC-130J aircraft modified with specialised crew areas, scientific equipment and two external fuel tanks. A standard aircrew consists of five personnel.
“Our purpose during hurricane season is to collect and quality check the data in storm environments before sending it, in-flight, to forecasters to inject into models and to try and pinpoint the true center of a storm,” said Mitchell. He added that as the unit is often flying in data sparse regions, “being in a storm for as long as possible closes the gap of information that satellites may not be able to determine”.
The Hurricane Hunters are scheduled to continue to make flights into Beryl until it makes landfall. As of 4 July, the National Hurricane Centre noted that the centre of the storm was moving away from the Cayman Islands, with “strong winds, dangerous storm surge, and damaging waves expected on the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico by early Friday”.
The US’ National Hurricane Centre (NHC) has issued repeated official warnings for the weather phenomenon, stating that “preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion”. 24 hours after the system was first formed (as a tropical depression over the Atlantic Ocean), winds had already registered at 75mph.
