Hurricane Hunters wrap up Hawaii deployment

by Master Sgt. Brian Lamar
403rd Wing Public Affairs

8/11/2014 - JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- As Hawaii recovers from the one-two punch from Hurricanes Iselle and Julio, the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron is packing up their operating base here for their return to Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi.

The "Hurricane Hunters," an Air Force Reserve unit assigned to the 403rd Wing, arrived Aug. 5 and flew their last mission Aug. 10. The squadron launched aircraft from the Island of Oahu during the threats of the storms and flew eight reconnaissance missions into Iselle and five into Julio.

Iselle, which at one point was a Category 4 hurricane, weakened into a tropical storm before it made landfall on the Big Island Friday, while Hurricane Julio spared the islands moving north of Hawaii Sunday afternoon.

The deployment to Hickam was considered a rare event since hurricanes typically don't make their trek intact all the way to the islands, said Maj. Jon Brady, 53rd WRS aerial reconnaissance weather officer.

Hawaii has been hit by three hurricanes since 1952, the last of which was Hurricane Iniki in 1992.

A hurricane-force storm hitting Hawaii is rare due to three factors; water too cold to sustain intensity, shear winds that threaten to topple a storm over and disorganize its wind-field flow, and a desert of dry air that chokes away its power, said Brady.

"I've been doing this 14 years, and this is the first time I've had two storms back-to-back on one deployment, where I hit one storm, go into crew rest, and the next day fly into another storm, said Maj. Sean Cross, 53rd WRS pilot. "And, they're both major hurricanes at some point."

The Central Pacific Hurricane Center was happy see the Hunters because of the uniqueness of a second hurricane trailing, .

"The data they provided to us was vital," said Tom Birchard, the senior forecaster and hurricane specialist for CPHC. "It helped immensely. A lot of times we are taking educated guesses with the wind radii and wind field. Satellite data can only give us so much info; the data from the aircraft are ground truth."

That ground-truth data that the CPHC forecasters enjoy provides real-time assistance to emergency managers on the ground and helps them with weather watch and warning decisions.

"Seventy-five percent of that analysis is weighted based on the weather data gathered by the aircraft," said Birchard.

With Julio dying and heading off to die in the colder waters North of Hawaii, the Hunters are readying for the next storm, which is brewing in the Atlantic basin.