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Hot Topic HURRICANE AWARENESS TOUR STOPS IN SAVANNAH
Hundreds of students got the chance to step aboard an airplane that flies into one of Mother Nature's most powerful storms.
The National Weather Service's annual Hurricane Awareness Tour rolled into town on May 5, 2011 at the Savannah Hilton Head International Airport. Area students from Chatham, Effingham and Bryan Counties, as well as students from South Carolina were able to tour the airplane and talk with the pilots and crew.
The highlight of the tour was the Lockheed WP-3D Orion, NOAA's Hurricane Hunter aircraft. The event was hosted by both NOAA's National Weather Service Office in Charleston, South Carolina and the Savannah Hilton Head Airport, in conjunction with the NOAA's National Hurricane Center out of Miami Florida, NOAA's Airport Operations Center at MacDill Air Force Base located in Tampa Florida, and CEMA. The P-3 Orion aircraft not only plays a vital role in helping NOAA's National Hurricane Center forecast the track and strength of hurricanes, but also participates in many
other national and international research missions.
Some recent missions and experiments that the P-3 has been involved in include: a climate study off the west coast of Mexico, a low level wind jet experiment over Central and South America and a study of bow echoes and mesoscale convection in the U.S. Midwest.
In addition to the Hurricane Hunter aircraft, vehicles and aircraft were on display from other agencies such as the US Coast Guard, Marine and Fire/Emergency services.
Bill Reed, Director of the National Hurricane Center; Charlie English, Director of Georgia Emergency Management Agency; Clayton Scott, Director of Chatham Emergency Management Agency and Jim Anderson; Director of Bryan County Emergency Management Agency attended the event.
