# News

## U.S. Air Force LogoUnited States Air Force

# 53rd WRS reflects on 2019 hurricane season

              - Published  Dec. 3, 2019
              -                             By Tech. Sgt. Christopher Carranza                                                    
              - 403rd Wing Public Affairs

**KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFNS) --  **
Andrea, Barry, Dorian, Fernand, Humberto, Jerry, Karen, Lorena, Nestor and Olga. At first glance one may think this is a list of popular baby names for the year, but in fact, they’re the names of 10 storms the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron flew into during this year’s hurricane season.The 2019 hurricane season officially ended Nov. 30, and was an active one for the Airmen of the 53rd WRS, widely known as the Hurricane Hunters.The 53rd WRS is assigned to the U.S. Air Force Reserve’s 403rd Wing at Keesler Air Force Base. It is the only Department of Defense unit that conducts aircraft reconnaissance missions into severe tropical weather during the hurricane season, which is June 1 through Nov. 30.This season the Hurricane Hunters flew more than 684 hours, totaling 80 missions into 10 storms over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.“This season was unusual, we were busy, but not by the number of storms. It was busy by how they all fell into place,” said Lt. Col. Anthony Wilmot, 53rd WRS director of operations. “What made this season difficult for us were the threats to Bermuda, it’s a long flight from here, so to stretch way out there from here made it difficult operating out of home station.”An example Wilmot gave was Hurricane Dorian being a very long storm, 14 days of operations and flown from three different locations: Curaçao, Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida, and Keesler AFB.The Hurricane Hunters' area of responsibility ranges from the mid-Atlantic to just west of Hawaii. Through an interagency agreement, tropical weather reconnaissance is governed by the National Hurricane Operations Plan, which requires the squadron to support 24/7 operations, with the capability to fly up to three storms simultaneously with a response time of 16 hours. To provide this quick reaction of aircrew and aircraft maintenance force, the squadron has 10 full-time Reserve aircrews and 10 traditional Reserve part-time crews available to fly 10 WC-130J Super Hercules aircraft outfitted to execute the mission.“This is my career and passion, especially in hurricane season,” said Maj. Douglas Gautrau, 53rd WRS aerial reconnaissance weather officer. “I missed a lot of the 2018 season, so this season, any time I had the opportunity to fly I tried my best to get into the mix.”For Gautrau, hurricane season is a two-fold mission, he is a weather officer which acts as a flight director in the storm environment to get the necessary data for the National Hurricane Center, in addition to being an instructor.“As an ARWO instructor, having a brand-new student, they need to get their hurricane flights in,” Gautrau said. “Taking every opportunity to fly and train was necessary. The only way our ARWOs get fully mission-qualified is in the hurricane and tropical-storm environment. You can’t duplicate this on the ground and fly a local training line and get signed off. Your mission-director skills, crew resource management and situational awareness need to be experienced in real world/real time in order to get the exposure and fully understand what you’re being qualified to do.”These weather missions are flown to gather data for the NHC’s models which help improve their forecasts and storm warnings.According to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, their outlook predicted 10-17 named storms, 5-9 hurricanes and 2-4 major hurricanes, meaning Category 3, 4 or 5 storms. This season produced 18 named storms, six hurricanes, three of which were major hurricanes.The squadron kicked off the Atlantic season flying into Subtropical Storm Andrea, which formed May 20 and lost strength the following day. The unit also flew Hurricane Barry in July, which was the first hurricane of the season and made landfall in Louisiana causing significant flood damage due to storm surge and heavy rain.“September was nonstop for the unit operations continuously going on,” Gautrau said. “Hurricane Dorian was very slow moving system that was daunting on our operations and maintenance who were constantly generating aircraft to support.”The first major hurricane of the season was Hurricane Dorian. At its peak, it was a Category 5 hurricane and caused severe damage to the Bahamas, then weakened to a Category 1 when it made landfall in North Carolina. Following in Dorian’s wake was Hurricane Humberto, which passed the northern parts of the Bahamas and within 75 miles of Bermuda before weakening in the northern Atlantic Ocean.Although 2019 hurricane season has ended, the mission of the 53rd WRS has not. From Nov. 1 to March 31, the squadron flies winter storms off the East and West Coast of the United States and in the Gulf of Mexico.“Before the hurricane season was over, the winter-storm season began Nov. 1, so during that time we have a double duty,” Wilmot said. “Atmospheric-river missions start in January. It is becoming a larger portion of the winter-storm plan which will increase our ops tempo. So there really isn’t an off season.”The unit will conduct atmospheric-river reconnaissance missions to collect data to determine atmospheric moisture content that pushes into the West Coast of the United States each winter season, which assists flooding forecasts.In between flying winter storms, atmospheric-river missions and training missions, the squadron will be preparing for the next hurricane season.Wilmot described how impressed he was with the unit’s crews. Despite continuous maintenance issues and flip flopping from days to nights and back, due to long flights, he said everyone showed heart.“I’m proud that we have that kind of dedication to duty,” Wilmot said. “There’s not a person here that doesn’t understand the impacts of what we do and what we provide to the American public.”

L/RUSAFAFAir Forcehurricane huntersWC-130J53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron53rd WRS403rd WingKeesler Air Force BaseNational Hurricane CenterHomestead Air Reserve BaseAir Force Reserve CommandweatherhurricaneHurricane DorianSuper Hercules