About the Hurricane Hunters:

• 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