NOAA
HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS CAMPAIGN GOES AIRBORNE FOR GULF COAST AND FLORIDA
RESIDENTS
April
28, 2006 � With the impact of a record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane
season still etched on the coastline from Texas to Florida, and recovery
on the minds of its residents, forecasters from the NOAA
National Hurricane Center will join the aircrew from the NOAA
Aircraft Operations Center on a hurricane hunter aircraft tour from
May 1 - 5. The five-city, five-day mission will increase hurricane awareness
and encourage preparedness in vulnerable coastal and inland communities
along the Gulf coast and Florida. (Click NOAA image for larger
view of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Biloxi, Miss., showing
tractor trailers and huge rolls of newsprint destroyed and scattered
in the storm’s wake. Click
here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
The team
of hurricane experts, aided by local NOAA National Weather Service officials,
will ride a WP-3 Orion four-engine turboprop hurricane hunter, nicknamed
"Miss Piggy," to meet emergency managers, media and the public.
Cities on the route include Brownsville, Tex.; Beaumont-Port Arthur,
Tex; Mobile, Ala.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Tampa, Fla.
"The
brave men and women who fly into the heart of the hurricane are our
sentinels in the storm," said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad
C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and
atmosphere and NOAA administrator. "They, and their U.S. Air Force
Reserve Command counterparts, gather data critical to producing more
accurate forecasts vital for warning the public." (Click
NOAA image for larger view of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina
in Bay St. Louis, Miss. Click
here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
"Working
in partnership with federal, state and local emergency managers and
the media—we can help educate the public," said retired Air
Force Brig. Gen. David
L. Johnson, director of the NOAA
National Weather Service. "But the public should also take
responsibility for preparing themselves to recognize and respond appropriately
to severe weather threats."
"Educating
the public is our continuing mission," said Max Mayfield, director
of the NOAA National Hurricane Center. "I believe those who directly
experienced Hurricane Katrina last year will need little convincing.
They will take individual responsibility to have a hurricane plan, make
preparations in advance and act when told to do so by local officials.
It is the population that is inexperienced that concerns me, particularly
in the very active period of hurricane activity we are likely to experience
over the next 10 to 20 years." (Click NOAA satellite image
for larger view of Hurricane Katrina taken Aug. 28, 2005, at 11:45 a.m.
EDT as the storm raged as a Category 5 storm in the Gulf of Mexico,
a day before it slammed into the Gulf Coast. Click
here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
The NOAA
National Hurricane Center will continue its hurricane hazard education
campaign during national Hurricane Preparedness Week from May 21-27.
Tour
Schedule |
Mon.,
May 1: Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport, Brownsville,
Texas (media tours, (local time) 2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.; public tours,
3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.) |
Tue.,
May 2:Beaumont-Port Arthur Southeast Texas Regional Airport (media
tours, 2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.; public tours, 2:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.) |
Wed.,
May 3: Mobile Regional Airport, Mobile, Ala. (media tours, 2:30
p.m. - 3:00 p.m.; public tours, 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.) |
Thu.,
May 4:Palm Beach International Airport, West Palm Beach, Fla. (media
tours, 2:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.) |
Fri.,
May 5:Tampa International Airport, Tampa, Fla. (media event, 2:30
p.m. - 4:30 p.m.) |
NOAA, an
agency of the U.S. Department of
Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national
safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related
events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal
and marine resources.
Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS),
NOAA is working with its federal partners, 61 countries and the European
Commission to develop a global network that is as integrated as the
planet it observes, predicts and protects.
Relevant Web Sites
NOAA Hurricane
Preparedness Week
NOAA
National Hurricane Center
NOAA
Aircraft Operations Center
NOAA
Satellite Images of 2005 Storms
NOAA
Hurricanes Page
Media
Contact:
Dennis Feltgen, NOAA
National Weather Service, (301) 713-0622 ext. 127
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