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

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

The Roanoke, VA stop on the Hurricane Awareness Tour will feature two Hurricane Hunter Aircraft.

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. Air crews fly directly into the core of tropical cyclones to gather data critical for forecasting tropical cyclone 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.

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