2019 East Coast Hurricane Awareness Tour at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport (ROA)

This image advertises the 2019 Hurricane Awareness Tour at Roanoke. Virginia

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2019 NOAA Hurricane Awareness Tour Coming to Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport on Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Hurricane experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will visit five U.S. East Coast cities, flying aboard a USAF Reserve WC-130J Hurricane Hunter aircraft along with the NOAA Lockheed WP-3D Orion aircraft, to raise awareness of the impacts from tropical cyclones threats and the danger of being caught without a personal hurricane plan.

One of the stops on the 2019 Hurricane Awareness Tour will be Roanoke, VA. This stop will occur at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport, on Wednesday, May 8, 2019.

The WC-130J is one of ten such aircraft used by the U.S. Air Force Reservists from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, 403rd Wing, located at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS. Military air crews fly directly into the core of tropical cyclones to gather data that are critical for forecasting a tropical cyclone’s intensity and landfall.

The NOAA Lockheed WP-3D Orion “Hurricane Hunter”, is widely known for use in hurricane research and reconnaissance. The versatile turboprop aircraft is equipped with a variety of scientific instrumentation, radars, and recording systems for both in-situ and remote sensing measurements of the atmosphere, the earth, and it's environment. The NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and based at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, FL maintains and operates two Lockheed WP-3D Orion aircraft in order to conduct low-altitude data collection to fill gaps in data not available from ground based radar or satellite imagery.

The National Hurricane Center Director, Ken Graham; Hurricane Specialist Daniel Brown; Branch Chief of the Hurricane Specialist Unit, Dr. Michael Brennan; Storm Surge Specialist Jamie Rhome; and USAF and NOAA hurricane hunter crew members, will be on hand to educate residents of vulnerable communities about hurricane preparedness and will be available for interviews. Staff from local emergency management offices, non-profit organizations such as the American Red Cross, Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH), and personnel from the National Weather Service offices will be part of the team at each stop.

Community groups, media, elected officials, select local schools (schools by invitation only), and the public are invited to participate and tour the aircraft and exhibits. Public tours will be given from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Registration is not required for the public tours. Due to the schedule of the aircraft crew, public tours will promptly end at 5:00 pm.

For more information on this event, contact Phil Hysell of NWS Blacksburg at 540-552-0084, ext. 223