MAJOR HURRICANE CHURNING OFF BAJA, CALIFORNIA; WIND SPEEDS ARE HIGHEST EVER ESTIMATED IN THE AREA
New Gulfstream Jet to Fly First Mission in West

What may shape up to be one of the most intense hurricanes ever recorded is currently churning south of Baja, California, in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Its future track and consequences for the U.S. West Coast are subjects for a media briefing at the National Hurricane Center (11691 S.W. 17th Street, Miami, FL) on Sunday, Sept. 14, at 11:00 a.m. EST.

For continuous updates on Hurricane Linda, see the National Hurricane Center's web page at: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/products.html

NOAA's new Gulfstream-IV hurricane surveillance jet will fly its first mission off the western United States into the atmosphere around Hurricane Linda where wind currents determine the direction of the storm. The first-of-its-kind jet, flying up to 45,000 feet at speeds up to 550 mph, will deploy NOAA's newly developed global positioning system dropwindsondes that measure the hurricane's temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind speed and direction. This data will help forecasters predict Linda's track and intensity with greater accuracy. The first G-IV data-gathering flight is scheduled for Saturday afternoon. A NOAA turboprop WP-3D Orion "hurricane hunter" aircraft will fly directly into the eye of the storm on Sunday.

The G-IV flew its first operational mission ever during Hurricane Erika in the Caribbean in early September. The data collected caused forecasters, who plotted the data in real time, to alter and improve their hurricane track predictions. (See "hurricane hunter" background.)

For further information on the G-IV jet and WP-3D Orion aircraft, see the Office of NOAA Corps Operations' Aircraft Operations Center web page at: http://www.noaa.gov/nchome/aoc.html
For further information about the hurricane e-mail or phone Frank Lepore at the National Hurricane Center in Miami at (305) 229-4404.