Hurricane Hunters investigate atmospheric river bringing flood threat to Northwest this weekend
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Forecasters are getting an in-depth look at the next storm that's about to wallop the West Coast this weekend, thanks to the efforts of the Hurricane Hunters. Those are special missions flown by the Air Force Reserve's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron.
Hurricane Hunters spent about 10 hours in flight overnight Thursday into Friday, gathering crucial weather data by flying into the atmospheric river storm that's currently over the Pacific Ocean.
The storm is expected to bring urban and river flooding to western portions of Washington and Oregon beginning Saturday and continuing into Tuesday.
The Hurricane Hunters are expected to fly two more missions into the atmospheric river Friday, with the last one taking off from Honolulu, Hawaii, around 9 a.m. local time.
What Is An Atmospheric River?
As their name suggests, Hurricane Hunters see the most missions during hurricane season. During the winter, their mission shifts toward atmospheric rivers because of how impactful these storms have been on the West, according to a release from the Air Force 403rd Wing.
"The data we collect is important for forecasters at the National Weather Service and researchers to track atmospheric rivers, which are large amounts of water vapor in the earth's atmosphere," said Lt. Col. Ryan Rickert, an aerial reconnaissance weather officer.
Inside The 'Flying Laboratory' Used By Noaa's Hurricane Hunters
According to the Air Force, missions involve flying aircraft from 24,000 to 32,000 feet to collect crucial horizontal and vertical profiles of the winds, temperature, humidity, dewpoint and pressure for forecast models. The planes then drop advanced weather sensors and devices called dropsondes into the storm. This allows the crew to obtain data that could not be gathered by traditional ground-based weather stations or satellites.
That data is then sent to the National Center for Environmental Prediction, which is used to improve weather forecast models.
In addition to flying out of Hawaii, the missions operate out of Washington state, California, Mississippi, and for the first time, Yokota Air Base in Japan.
Hurricane Hunters Track Western Floods, Drought In Off-season
As for the atmospheric river itself, the storm is expected to bring heavy rain for the entire Pacific Northwest coast starting Saturday.
According to the FOX Forecast Center, urban and river flooding are possible with the potential of up to 8 inches of rainfall in some places, through Tuesday.
The bulk of the rain will fall this weekend. River flooding is expected to begin Sunday, with the Skokomish River forecast to rise above minor flood stage.
The majority of the snow will fall in the Cascades at elevations starting about 6,500 feet.
A multi-day flash flood threat was outlined along the Washington-Oregon coast.
This atmospheric river could also bring significant flash flooding across parts of Idaho and Montana where the ground remains frozen from days of subzero temperatures.
How To Watch Fox WeatherOriginal article source: Hurricane Hunters investigate atmospheric river bringing flood threat to Northwest this weekend
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
Air Force Hurricane Hunters say they're ready for busy hurricane season
The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, also known as the "Hurricane Hunters," is officially ready to roll out for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. The 403rd Wing maintenance and support personnel based at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, spent the last week prepositioning aircraft parts, tools and communication systems at the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, in preparation for the season. "Our area of operation spans from just west of Hawaii to the middle of the Atlantic," said Lt. Col. Jeff Mitchell, 53rd WRS mission commander for the deployment. "Staging at St. Croix puts us closer to where Atlantic hurricanes tend to form, giving us the head start we need when every hour counts." Tropical wave: First tropical wave of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season just left the African coast The Hurricane Hunters are the only Department of Defense unit that flies into tropical storms and hurricanes, but they're not the only hurricane hunters around. Here's what to know about hurricane hunters and the important role they play during hurricane season. Hurricane hunters are pilots and researchers who fly into tropical storms and hurricanes to collect crucial data that forecasters use to make accurate predictions, help researchers better understand storm processes and improve forecast models. "Satellites are useful, but they can't measure the minimum sea level pressure inside a hurricane, or the structure and wind data we gather by flying directly into the eye," said Mitchell. "That data helps the National Hurricane Center make more accurate forecasts—forecasts that save lives and property." It probably seems crazy, but yes, hurricane hunters really do fly into storms. Using different planes, the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hurricane hunters cut through hurricanes to reach the storm's eyewall, which is relatively calm. Flying through a hurricane sounds exciting and dangerous, but there's a lot of downtime during the 8- to 10-hour flight. Colorado State University grad student Angelie Nieves Jiménez, who flew with the NOAA hurricane hunters in 2023, described the experience as thrilling, memorable and bumpy. "The bumpiness of the flight depends on the storm's strength and the reconnaissance mission path," she said. "Seat belts must be worn at all times when approaching the storm, because there can be updrafts and downdrafts that feel like a roller coaster." 53rd WRS chief aerial reconnaissance weather officer Lt. Col. Ryan Rickert focuses on the mission. "People often ask us what it's like to fly into a hurricane," said Rickert. "It's intense—but we know that every pass through the storm means better data for the National Hurricane Center forecasters and better warning for people in harm's way." Hurricane hunters will typically fly through the eyewall of the hurricane multiple times, dropping weather instruments called dropsondes to measure temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and barometric pressure from the aircraft to the ocean surface. All of this data is transmitted to the National Hurricane Center in real-time, which is then plugged into computer models to try and predict the storm's track and intensity. The data is important as it helps government officials and emergency managers to make decisions about evacuations and other storm preparations. 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron currently has 10 WC-130J "Super Hercules" aircraft, very similar to the Blue Angels' "Fat Albert" maintenance aircraft. This version of the Hercules is outfitted with palletized meteorological data-gathering instruments. NOAA's hurricane hunters fly two Lockheed JP-3D Orion four-engine turboprop aircraft into storms. The aircraft are nicknamed "Kermit" (N42RF) and "Miss Piggy" (N43RF). NOAA pilots also fly the Gulfstream IV-SP (G-IV) above and around storms. This plane has a cruising altitude of 45,000 feet and a range of 4,000 nautical miles, making it perfect to get a detailed view of weather systems in the upper atmosphere around a hurricane. This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Air Force Hurricane Hunters are ready for 2025 hurricane season
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Yahoo
New life rises but memories linger for woman widowed by Helene
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) — New life fills the frame of a close-in look at Vicki Hunter's home and surroundings barely a stone's throw from the Nolichucky River. It's a cool first day of spring. Hunter's brown schnauzer puppy, Ford, waits inside her newly built home as she approaches four very pregnant broodmares standing near a picturesque red barn. Woman recounts her rescue from river, husband's death 'Foxy girl has given me some beautiful babies,' Hunter says, reaching out to stroke the head of a large, reddish Quarter Horse. 'Last year was a palomino with white socks and a big blaze of red. I have no idea where that came from. 'She's due first. She's got this big old baby hanging here, so I'm hoping next week that I'll have something on the ground.' Draw back the view, though, and the full picture of the 63-year-old's recent life experience comes into sharper focus. 'During the flood, there was six to seven feet of water — you can see the water line on the edge of the barn door there,' Hunter says, pointing to a straight horizontal line along the barn with bright red above, a duller red below. 'I was afraid this one here, the buckskin would not come out of her stall, and she just didn't,' Hunter says. 'And when I went looking for horses the day after the flood and I started counting heads, I thought, 'oh, my God, I'm missing one.'' That horse, like Jerry and Vicki Hunter's others, survived as the usually placid Nolichucky burst violently from its banks and tore through Hunter's low-lying rural neighborhood about 10 miles southeast of Johnson City on Sept. 27. Rains from Hurricane Helene had dumped up to 30 inches of rain in the Western North Carolina mountains that feed the creeks and smaller rivers, the Toe and the Cane, that form the Nolichucky's headwaters. The river smashed out of the rugged gorge that carries it from North Carolina into Tennessee, devastated parts of Erwin, then regained force in a smaller gorge that separates Erwin from Embreeville and Hunter's community. It tore violently out those constraints and swept through A.J. Willis Road, Tittle Circle and O.L. Huff Road, ripping houses from their foundations and carrying vehicles, farm equipment and anything else in its nearly mile-wide path. By the time Hunter was looking for Kiwi, the buckskin mare, the house she shared with Jerry was gone. The day before, a Friday, the rapidly rising water had left the Hunters without time to drive off their property. They'd ended up on opposite sides of the house — Vicki holding her schnauzer, Batman, Jerry just feet away. Hunter heard loud popping sounds as the house unmoored from its foundation and began to float. Rescue crews pulled her into a boat, but she'd lost her hold on the dog's leash. 'I said, 'Can we go save my dog?' Because he was a little dog. I could see him swimming, and they said, 'We have to save you.' So that was the last I seen of Batman, unfortunately.' Hunter also never saw Jerry alive again. They'd been married for 14 years, sharing a love of horses. Jerry, 15 years older and a Vietnam veteran, was a vibrant, healthy, outgoing man, Hunter says. 'I used to call from my little part-time job and say, 'What are you doing today?' And he'd say, 'I'm fencing.'' Hunter says Jerry was out working shortly before the flood as utility workers erected new poles. 'He was … talking to the guys as they're digging the hole and putting the post in the ground, and a week later, they're back because the flood took out the post. They're like, 'He died? We were just talking to him last week.' He was very healthy. He was very active.' Since the shock wore off, Hunter has thrown herself into her own recovery, gladly accepting the help that has poured out. Appalachia Service Project (ASP) oversaw the construction of a new home that she was in just before Christmas, and she's seen about half a dozen other replacement homes completed around her. Flood victims receive new homes before Christmas Hunter happily accepts all the help that people and organizations from near and far have provided and believes her neighbors should, too. Appalachian people can be proud to a fault, but Hunter said there's no reason to try and white-knuckle it alone. 'I think that people want to give. They want to reach out and be generous, and this is their opportunity. And you shouldn't take their joy. You should accept it in the manner it was given.' There's another type of help that, while well-meaning, hasn't always hit the right mark for her, Hunter says. 'People'd look at me, and they'd go, 'Well, God's got a plan for you.' And I said, 'I'd really like to know what God's plan is, because I was pretty happy with the plan I had,'' Hunter says, laughing and serious at the same time. 'People would look at me, and they'd go, 'your reward is when you die and you go to heaven and you meet your savior, Christ.' 'I said, 'Well, I don't want to die. Everything's pretty darn nice right now, right here. I have a good man I love. I have a property here with all my horses on it. We can afford to go on a vacation if we want.'' Hunter says she did not expect to be a widow. 'I thought, 'Jerry and I, we're going to get old together.'' Standing on her porch, Hunter points to houses fully built or nearing completion. 'See the white house — it used to be gray,' she says. 'His house flooded, but it didn't go anywhere and he had water about two feet into the second story, so he had to gut everything and start all over. While he was at it, he changed the siding. 'Dave and Carolyn over here with the little green roof, that's an ASP and they are close to being completed. I told Dave, I said, 'When you get ready, I'll bring you over some manure. We'll make a garden for you.'' She points to a still-standing two-story that is gray, still. 'Mike has got a group that came in and they've been helping him with the sheetrock inside, so he's getting closer. It's hard for him because he and his significant other both work during the day.' 'We've got a house that ASP has built that they just started last week, and they've already got the roof on that, so they're moving right along,' she says, pointing across the street from Mike's to a project with a small trailer blocking part of the view. 'His wife, Ashley, said 'We had noticed that we were going to get a FEMA trailer the same day that ASP said, 'We'll build you a home.'' That couple had lived for 18 years in their home, which wasn't washed away but was irreparable. Hunter shifts her gaze about 200 feet to two more ASP builds. One is for Lisa Fender, who had only been in her home for about 11 months when the flood washed it away. 'ASP built her a second one on the same foundation,' Hunter says. Two other neighbors getting homes completed are older veterans. One, Danny Cutshaw, was rescued from the back of his home during the flood. His house 'survived,' but was unlivable. 'He had a battle with the mortgage company because the value for his mortgage was his house,' Hunter says. That got worked out enough for Cutshaw to be on the verge of getting a new home, but it points to the complexity of post-disaster life in a community like hers. Hunter herself has had to continue paying a mortgage on a house that's not even there, as the bank has threatened to foreclose on her property, which the couple owned outright. Even dealing with the help that is available, through FEMA and other agencies or non-profits, isn't simple, she says. 'Unless you have someone that's very savvy with computers and knows and hears about, 'This is what we're going to do and the county's going to give you, and FEMA,' it's not easy. 'You have to be really having an advocate that helps you. The neighbors on the hill here, Erica and Mike Smith, have been working really hard to help people,' she says, pointing to a home near the highway that wasn't damaged. She hopes 2025 brings continued change to her surroundings. 'A feeling of done. Of the neighborhood being put back together. I want to age gracefully here in this home with these neighbors. We're going to rebuild, and we're going to be here. This is our community. 'This is where Jerry's heart is and so that's where I want to be. I like the fact that I can go out and see the neighbors behind me. I like the fact that I can see all of that, all the progress.' The loss of Jerry remains a gaping void in Vicki Hunter's life. 'I have my moments,' she says. It happened when she took Ford, the brown schnauzer puppy with red highlights named after Jerry's red pickup, to the same vet clinic she used to take Batman to. She started crying and shared her feelings. 'Before I left, I'm like, 'I'm really sorry.' (The vet) says, 'I'm going to be thinking about this all day long.' ''Listen,' I said, 'I am too.' And then I drive home and I'm crying on the way home. Thinking about Jerry. So yes, he is very close, yet. I think that if he was alive, he'd be out there fencing.' She walks toward the barn to check on the horses. Asked if the pending arrival of foals evokes thoughts of symbolism, Hunter doesn't shy from the topic. 'The renewal of life, that kind of thing? It does. I mean, you go over and you rub the belly and you got a baby in here,' the mother of two and grandmother of four says. 'I can't wait. This is what Jerry and I sort of have our love and our deep emotions for. And this is what he had his farm set up for, was horses.' Hunter will keep the foals for about six months before selling them. She'll be keeping up with Ford and driving a small new tractor around the place, compliments of good-hearted people. The old tractor, which was part of Jerry's portfolio on the mini-farm, was ruined in the flood. 'I told Jerry a long time ago, because he always told me I had to learn to drive his tractor. I said, 'If I have to learn to drive your tractor, there's something wrong, and you're not here.' And sure enough, his tractor is not working. He's not here, and I had to learn to drive a tractor.' Hunter has a lot to be thankful for six months after a catastrophic event turned her and her neighbors' lives upside down, and she is thankful. But she doesn't sugarcoat her reality. 'I don't have Jerry, but this is his dream. So, I mean, in essence, he is here yet. 'When I walk through the barn at night and lock up, sometimes I'll just say 'good night, Jerry.' Because he's been here since '79. Here, he had a 30-year head start on me before I entered into his picture of life.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
06-03-2025
- Axios
NOAA cuts could ground some Hurricane Hunter flights
The layoffs that hit about 800 NOAA employees last week will hamstring the agency's fleet of hurricane research aircraft, experts warn. Threat level: NOAA's aircraft have specialized equipment that the Air Force's Hurricane Hunters lack. Their flights during hurricane season are aimed at feeding data into computer models to improve forecast accuracy. The now-thinly staffed team of flight directors, engineers, scientists and mechanics means NOAA will struggle to maintain a 24-hour-a-day tempo of flying its modified Gulfstream jet and aging WP-3 research aircraft, said Josh Ripp, who was laid off as a flight engineer since he was a probationary employee. Ripp said the missing flights will translate into less accurate forecasts and greater risk for coastal residents who are used to having at least two to three days' warning of a hurricane's predicted landfall location. He told Axios in an interview that the agency is now either short one person or is at just the level of personnel needed to staff 24/7 flight operations, which has been the desired tempo during past seasons. However, that assumes no one gets sick or has a family emergency and cannot crew a flight. NOAA, he said, is now "playing the odds that everyone there is going to be fine all season." Zoom in: Two others associated with NOAA's hurricane research program confirmed the challenges the agency faces after the layoffs hit its Office of Marine and Aviation Operations in Lakeland, Fla. According to Andrew Hazelton, who was laid off from working on hurricane forecast models at the National Hurricane Center, the cuts may compromise forecast accuracy and ultimately cost lives. He said NOAA uses the information from the flights in two ways. One is to gauge the intensity and movement of a storm, since such data is immediately relayed to the Hurricane Center. The other is to use the specialized equipment — such as powerful, tail-mounted-Doppler radar — to gather data that's fed into hurricane forecast models to better anticipate a storm's movement and shifts in intensity. Consistent NOAA and Air Force Reserve hurricane reconnaissance has helped lead to vast improvements in hurricane track forecasts in particular, with new gains made in intensity projections in recent years. Between the lines: NOAA only has a minimum capacity of flight directors, positions that require years of training, according to one source familiar with staffing issues who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution if they are rehired. It missed out on gaining three who were in the hiring process when the Trump administration instituted a government-wide freeze, and then lost two to the layoffs, the source said. "This leaves the exact number for staffing four total WP-3 and G-IV crews," the source said. "It leaves no room for anyone to get sick or have a life event that precludes them from being able to fly." "It will, of course, also lead to burnout of the remaining flight directors," they said, noting that flight engineers are also at "critically low" levels of personnel. Hazelton told Axios that NOAA is running the risk that a storm will approach the coast and that the agency won't be able to fly into and around it with its advanced capabilities. "I think that's a real risk that could happen if some of these moves aren't reversed," he said. What they're saying: NOAA wouldn't comment specifically about the Hurricane Hunter staffing issue. "As per longstanding practice, we don't discuss internal personnel and management matters," the agency said in a statement to Axios. "NOAA remains dedicated to providing timely information, research and resources that serve the American public and ensure our nation's environmental and economic resilience," the statement said. "We continue to provide weather information, forecasts and warnings pursuant to our public safety mission." Go deeper: DOGE moves to cancel NOAA leases on key weather buildings Top weather, climate agency NOAA the latest layoff target NOAA layoffs threaten weather, climate forecasts DOGE plans for NOAA, FEMA could have big climate impacts
