A Hurricane Hunter crew took off from Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi on Wednesday and flew a WC-130J Hercules roughly 700 miles southwest, straight into Tropical Storm Isaias. The crew with the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron approached the storm at low altitude, gathering the kind of detailed readings that satellites simply can’t capture from orbit. All of it gets sent to the National Hurricane Center, where it feeds directly into the forecast models we all rely on here on the Suncoast.
One of the officers on board, Second Lt. Andrew Wilson, knows the Gulf Coast audience well. He previously worked as a television meteorologist at WLOX before becoming an aerial reconnaissance weather officer. His assessment of Isaias? The storm is starting to get its act together. When a forecaster-turned-airman says that from inside the storm, it carries more weight than any computer model alone.
For anyone with a boat in the marina, a home near the water, or travel plans along the Gulf, this is your reminder to stay current on the forecast and keep that storm kit accessible. The warnings and tracks you see on your phone start with crews like this one, flying through the weather so you don’t have to. What’s the one thing you always double-check before a storm approaches?
