Hurricane Hunters partner with NOAA to educate public

by Master Sgt. Brian Lamar
403rd Public Affairs

5/27/2014 - KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron flew to Tallahassee, Florida's regional airport May 22 to team up with the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on the fourth day of a week-long Hurricane Awareness Tour.

More than 1,000 students from local schools attended the tour in the morning as a field trip on their last week of school. The tour was also opened in the afternoon to the general public.

The tour is designed to attempt to save lives and property damage by promoting hurricane preparedness and awareness among local populations along the Gulf of Mexico.

"The only way to combat complacency is education," said Kelly Godsey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service who organized a Hurricane Awareness Tour at the Tallahassee Regional Airport which was open to the public.

The lack of recent hurricane landfalls in the Tallahassee, Florida area has led to dangerous complacency, according to Godsey. Reeducating the public how to stay prepared for a hurricane will save lives and help reduce damage to property.

This year, to help create more buzz and excitement for the tour, the 53rd WRS Hurricane Hunters brought their WC-130J and the NOAA Hurricane Hunters, brought their P-3 Orion aircraft.

"These planes are great. The students love seeing them up close. We had a good time and learned some valuable information of how we get storm data from a Hurricane," said Kevin Keve, a sixth-grade teacher from Thomas County Middle School.

The planes not only serve as a hands-on item during the tour, they also serve as an attention grabber.

"Getting the hurricane preparedness message out is not an easy task; you have to get people's attention. The planes are a crowd draw. It grabs their attention and shows them that they need to take this information serious," said Dr. Richard Knabb, the director of the National Hurricane Center.

With today's fiscally constrained environment, tough decisions are made to determine the value of outreach venues like the Hurricane Awareness Tour, but Dr. Knabb, believes the decision to attend is the right choice.

"The cost of a hurricane awareness tour is tiny in comparison to the cost of a community not being prepared. Outreach and education is a core part of the NWS mission. Life and property safety is what the air force is about and that is where our partnership in this is important," said Knabb.

The 53rd WRS Hurricane Hunters hope to participate in more stops during the five-city tour next year, according to Lt. Col. Keith Gibson, the 53rd WRS director of operations.