Florida Public Radio Emergency Network (FPREN) Storm Center | By Leslie Hudson
There is an elite team of air crew that fly into the most powerful and dangerous storms on the planet. They’re called hurricane hunters. Their missions are crucial when it comes to forecasting these tropical machines.
These pilots are among the best of the best that fly into the world’s worst weather to gather invaluable real-time data for meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center. The steady stream of weather data will feed into computer models that help hurricane researchers get a better understanding of a storm’s structure.
These hurricane missions have a track record that works. so far, the Hurricane Center says the data from these missions has helped improve the hurricane forecast tracks by as much as 30%. The data from these missions can increase both the storm’s track forecast and accuracy. It can narrow the cone of uncertainty and help the Hurricane Center improve the forecast from three days out to five days which builds more critical time for people to prepare and do what they need to do for their families.
The scientists and meteorologists on board have the job of quality controlling all of the information that comes in from the instruments attached to the aircraft before it gets sent off to the hurricane center that will provide life-saving forecasts in the days to come.
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