FEATURES About the Hurricane Hunters:

Government Executive June 1, 2005
  • Weather and hurricane research budget:
    $2.4 million (2006 request)
  • Total NOAA budget:
    $3.6 billion (2006 request)
  • NOAA fleet:
    Two propeller-driven Lockheed Martin WP-3D Orion aircraft and one Gulfstream IV-SP twin turbofan jet
  • Helping hands:
    120 reservists and 10 Lockheed Martin WC-130 aircraft from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss.
  • The off season:
    Keep busy with winter storm reconnaissance from bases in Alaska and Hawaii.
  • On the horizon:
    Hurricane hunting without pilots, by unmanned aerial vehicles. On April 20, NOAA and NASA tested a remotely controlled prototype designed to fly 30 hours at 52,000 feet.
  • 2005 forecast:
    13 named storms; seven hurricanes, three major. Chance of an intense hurricane hitting the U.S.: 73 percent. Chance of Florida getting hit: 53 percent.

Source: Colorado State University

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FEATURES About the Hurricane Hunters:
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