Jeremy DeHart
Meteorologist & 53 WRS Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter. Alum of Naval Postgraduate School (M.S.) & NC State (B.S.) | Views do not represent those of the Air Force or DoD.
- #AMS2026 roll call…who's going??
- Today's 53 WRS winter storm mission went as planned, and all 25 sondes will be assimilated for tonight's 00Z runs of the GFS and ECMWF. Bit of caution though, one round of sondes isn't a magic pill. Helps with initial conditions, but could take a few runs to lock in the pattern...
- Would anticipate that Thursday night's 00Z runs will be important with missions planned tomorrow for both the Baja low and the thermo profiles in the Gulf
- Just wrapped up a Saturday evening mission over the Gulf to collect some dropsonde data ahead of the approaching East Coast winter storm. Hopefully will help fine tune the models!
- Reposted by Jeremy DeHartMulti-panel view of the last few days of Hurricane Melissa: ↖️ GOES-19 infrared brightness temp ↗️ GOES-19 visible satellite ↙️ Hurricane hunter planes & flight paths ↘️ Recon-derived flight level wind swath ⬇️ Estimated minimum pressure from recon dropsondes
- I was worried for my crew mates when I saw them circling in the eye for over 20 mins. Looks like the very rough ride was confirmed. Plane had to leave early. They reported svr turb and a "sawtooth" eye. Looks like they moved 600-700ft up & down during this stretch in ~1 min.
- But they captured some historic data including the 893mb center drop, cementing #Melissa as the 3rd most intense hurricane on record in the Atlantic. Mission for the ages.
- From a crewmember on yesterday's Teal 74 mission into now-Category 5 Hurricane #Melissa. As clear of an eye as you will see in the Atlantic basin.
- From Hurricane #Imelda today. Strong winds create a streaking effect on the ocean surface. Was about 65 kts here so this is hurricane force. Eventually upgraded to Cat 2 during the mission. Should pack a decent punch to Bermuda tonight.
- The final 53 WRS mission into Erin is just wrapping up. This was the 24th recon mission on this storm, several of which were ~12 hrs long. Now set to begin flying on #90L into next week as it heads toward Bermuda. Hug your local hurricane hunter. 😅
- We were a bit heavier and slower today, so the tail behind us was able to make up 25 mins and caught up to us
- Just returned home. Good explainer on why #Chantal threw us a curve on the 2nd fix. Was expecting it to be NNW of the 1st fix, but got an abrupt wind flip to the NE, so had to circle and reattack from the south. Maybe this means track toward the right side of the cone? Tricky storm!
- Deep convection east of the center of #Chantal is causing stronger pressure falls which is elongating and pulling the low-level center NE closer to the tilted mid-level center of the storm. This is how TCs attempt to remedy the negative effects of wind shear and reorganize.
- TEAL 71 is now enroute to investigate #92L. Three more @53rdWRS missions on the books through the weekend. USA airpower at work. Happy Independence Day 🇺🇸
- Another EPAC cyclone blowing up before landfall. Pressure in Hurricane #Erick dropped rapidly from 977mb to 972mb between passes (from center dropsondes). Closed eye was really wrapping up the second time through. Next 53 WRS mission will be in the storm this evening.
- Sure looking like this will be our first operational mission of the season. NHC has designated a "possible" in the Plan of the Day for Wed, but with current trends and expectations for this storm I'd lean toward more likely than not that we'll fly it.
- Today's POD for Tue and Wed
- Last night we wore out this spot in the Gulf as we began our annual SFMR calibration missions this week. Flew a 1+ hr racetrack spiraling down from 25K ft to near the surface. Had the added benefit of feeding a few dropsondes into the models ahead of this weekend's severe wx.
- Look for potential swings in 00Z model output this evening with a 53 WRS mission in progress over the Gulf. A second mission is also planned for 12Z.
- Thank you for your service Mr. President. It will be my honor to continue serving our country under the next Commander in Chief, providing critical weather reconnaissance data to the American public 🇺🇸
- First winter storm flight of the season complete! These dropsondes will help the models resolve the thermodynamic details of this sloppy mess over the next few days
- Reposted by Jeremy DeHart[Not loaded yet]
