‘Miss Piggy,’ NOAA Aircrew, Hurricane Center Forecasters Visiting Ala., Fla.

Forecasters from the NOAA National Hurricane Center will join the air crew from the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center on hurricane hunter aircraft visits March 3, 4 and 5 to Mobile, Ala., West Palm Beach, Fla. and Tampa, Fla. The tour is part of a five-city, five-day mission to increase hurricane awareness and encourage preparedness in vulnerable coastal and inland communities along the Gulf coast and Florida.

The team of hurricane experts, aided by local NOAA National Weather Service officials, will ride a WP-3 Orion four-engine turboprop hurricane hunter, nicknamed “Miss Piggy,” to meet emergency managers, media and the public.

“The brave men and women who fly into the heart of the hurricane are our sentinels in the storm,” said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “They, and their U.S. Air Force Reserve Command counterparts, gather data critical to producing more accurate forecasts vital for warning the public.”

Working in partnership with federal, state and local emergency managers and the media—we can help educate the public,” said retired Air Force Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, director of the NOAA National Weather Service. “But the public should also take responsibility for preparing themselves to recognize and respond appropriately to severe weather threats.”

“Educating the public is our continuing mission,” said Max Mayfield, director of the NOAA National Hurricane Center. “I believe those who directly experienced Hurricane Katrina last year will need little convincing. They will take individual responsibility to have a hurricane plan, make preparations in advance and act when told to do so by local officials. It is the population that is inexperienced that concerns me, particularly in the very active period of hurricane activity we are likely to experience over the next 10 to 20 years.”

The tour schedule includes: May 3: Mobile Regional Airport, Mobile, Ala. (public tours, 3 to 5 p.m.); May 4: Palm Beach International Airport, West Palm Beach, Fla.; and May 5:Tampa International Airport, Tampa, Fla.

The NOAA National Hurricane Center will continue its hurricane hazard education campaign during national Hurricane Preparedness Week from May 21-27.

Source: NOAA National Weather Service

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Aviation Hurricane Aerospace