Chita Craft will fly on Hurricane Hunter as it measures Ian

KHOU 11 Meteorologist Chita Craft and photojournalist Ivan Gibson are on board a WC-130J Hurricane Hunter as it flies into Hurricane Ian. 

The crews on board are accumulating important information from contained in the storm to assist monitor this monster hurricane’s wind energy, location and extra for NOAA and the National Hurricane Center.

You can monitor their journey in real-time on FlightConscious by clicking here.

TEAL71 lands again in Mississippi.

TEAL71 formally flies out of Hurricane Ian.

Hurricane Ian makes landfall as a harmful Category 4 hurricane close to Cayo Costa, Florida with winds at 150 mph.

TEAL71 enters the attention. The aircraft has completed 4 passes within the eye.

TEAL71 is about to enter the outer eye.

Chita and Ivan are onboard TEAL71 and about quarter-hour away from getting into the outer fringe of Hurricane Ian.

TEAL71 is airborne. This will be no straightforward flight for Chita, Ivan and the Hurricane Hunters. An engineer for one of many Hurricane Hunter planes described his flight into Ian as the “roughest flight” of his profession. 

Checking in from Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi!

KHOU 11 Meteorologist Chita Craft is in Biloxi, Mississippi the place she will quickly elevate off to fly into the attention of Hurricane Ian with hunters. 

One of the vital instruments meteorologists use in figuring out a storm’s energy and motion is the wonderful Hurricane Hunters that fly proper into the center of a storm.

How do they try this, and what are they doing whereas contained in the storm? It’s all about science.

Hurricane Hunters present quite a lot of information a few storm, however how are they even getting inside?

They’re flying a aircraft known as a WC-130J. It’s a modified model of the C-130 aircraft that you simply may see dropping that purple stuff on a hearth out west.

The planes are robust. They can fly for longer intervals of time they usually can actually take a beating.

These airborne science missions are run by the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance squadron which has been flying into storms since 1944.

In the cargo part of the aircraft, there are two completely different pallets of laptop techniques that take all the information from the sensors on the aircraft’s exterior to assist decide what is going on on contained in the storm.

The Hunters additionally drop parachute-type sensors — known as Sondes — which float by the storm relaying information a few storms strain, wind pace, and route.

That information all comes collectively, will get processed and is then shared by the National Hurricane Center for us to share with all of you.

While hundreds of thousands of residents alongside Florida’s Gulf Coast evacuate to flee Hurricane Ian, a couple of courageous pilots and their passengers will fly immediately into the attention of the monster storm. 

KHOU 11 Meteorologist Chita Craft and photojournalist Ivan Gibson will be onboard one of many Hurricane Hunters Wednesday as crews collect key information to assist specialists perceive the construction of the storm and the winds that steer it. The information helps the National Hurricane Center develop laptop fashions that predict the storm’s energy and sure landfall. 

NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter fleet contains two P-3 turboprop plane and a Gulfstream IV jet. As they fly by a storm, they will encounter extraordinarily highly effective winds over 150 miles per hour. And whereas they’re inside one of the vital damaging forces of nature, they’re flying blind. 

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“Well, the best way I could describe it is it’s sort of like riding a roller coaster through a car wash because you can’t see anything out the windows in the eyewall,” Hurricane Hunter Flight Director Richard Henning mentioned in an interview on the NOAA website.

The high-tech tools features a system that parachutes by the hurricane to the ocean floor whereas feeding again information on strain, temperature, humidity and wind. 

Henning mentioned they fly twice a day.

“This airplane will just go day, night, day, night, day, night for six days in a row. And the missions last anywhere between eight and nine hours.”

According to Chita, the turboprops are a modified model of the C-130 planes used over wildfires. 

“These planes are tough! They can fly for longer periods of time, and they can really take a beating!” Chita defined. 

• NOAA’s WP-3D turboprop plane fly into the attention between 8,000 and 10,000 ft above sea degree. At that degree, they keep away from turbulent air beneath and icing or hail above. 
• The Gulfstream jet flies over and across the storm with a cruising altitude of 45,000 ft. 
• They move by the storm at the least 4 instances every mission.
• Hurricanes could be 50,000 ft excessive and round 125 miles throughout or extra. The eye diameter varies and could be round 5 to 30 miles huge.
• The information offered by the Hurricane Hunters make forecasting 30% extra correct, in line with NOAA.
• The plane are deployed from the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland, Florida, or from airports within the Caribbean if wanted to achieve creating storms.
• These important missions are run by the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance squadron which has been flying into storms since 1944.
• NOAA calls their hurricane hunters Miss Piggy, Kermit and Gonzo after the Muppet characters.

RELATED: How do NOAA’s hurricane hunter planes work?