Hurricane Hunters Acronyms

pojo · Post by **pojo** » July 2, 2007 7:48 pm

For those of you that don't know... I fly with the Hurricane Hunters (out of Keesler AFB)... The Hurricane Hunters are a specialized group of Air Force Reservists that fly into the Tropical Disturbances.... Yes fly INTO.... Low Level Invests and Tropical Disturbances at ~500-1500ft, Tropical Storms we fly at 5000ft, Hurricanes at 10000ft (FL100)....

Here are a few acronyms that I'll be using (this way you won't be lost when I start talking about my job)

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53rd WRS - 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squardon (aka. the Hurricane Hunters)
POD - Plan of the Day (tells Recon flights where to go)
CARCAH - Chief Aerial Reconnaissance Coordination, All Hurricanes (this person communicates with NHC and CARCAH (North) for the Storm MSNs.)
ARWO - Aerial Recon Wx Officer (USAF - Flight METs... these are the people that push out the OBS from the aircraft... their computer is connected to the CARCAH at the NHC and Keesler AFB via SATCOM).
ATL - Atlantic Basin
CARIB - Caribbean Basin
GOM - Gulf of Mexico
EPAC - Eastern Pacific Basin
CENPAC - Central Pacific Basin
NHC - National Hurricane Center (Miami, FL)
CPHC – Central Pacific Hurricane Center (Honolulu, HI)
ITCZ - Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (15N - 05N & 05S - 15S).... around the globe were most of the tropical activity takes place
SST - Sea Surface Temps (>80*F needed for development)
SFC - Surface
P - Pressure
LLI - Low Level Invest ~500-1500ft above SFC
FIX - Center of Circulation Location (where the sonde is dropped)
MSN - Missions
TD - Tropical Depression
TS - Tropical Storm
CAT# - Category (+ Saffir Simpson Scale #) ie. Cat3 = Category 3
WDIR - Wind Direction
WSPD - Windspeed
HDOBs - High Density Observations
RECCO - Reconnaissance Observation
CALs - Calibrations for Wx Computers onboard Aircraft
FL - Flight Level (in 1,000 ft intervals ie. FL099 means 9900ft.)
SFMR - Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (we call it the smirf).... it measures wave frequencies from the sfc for wind direction/speed of systems
CV – Cape Verde (Cape Verde storms form around the Cape Verde Islands... ie Hurricane Andrew 1992 formed there)
SATCOM - Satellite Communications (onboard all Hurricane Hunter planes and at 2 ground stations)
WX- Weather

I hope this helps for the non-weather people out there.

Shannon

txaggirl91 · Post by **txaggirl91** » July 2, 2007 7:50 pm

hey... maybe when it isnt hurricane season or when yall have a long stay here in houston....

would you and your crew be interested in coming and talking for a couple of hours about what you do and some of the science behind it to my group of science teachers (not the preservice ones i complain about all the time)?

pojo · Post by **pojo** » July 2, 2007 7:54 pm

txaggirl91 wrote:hey... maybe when it isnt hurricane season or when yall have a long stay here in houston....

would you and your crew be interested in coming and talking for a couple of hours about what you do and some of the science behind it to my group of science teachers (not the preservice ones i complain about all the time)?

I'm sure that could be arranged

We have talked with Air Traffic Dispatchers before in Houston! I'll PM you with an email and then I'll forward it onto the PA person.

bubba phan · Post by **bubba phan** » July 2, 2007 7:54 pm

Please don't tell me there will be a test on the above, Shannon!

My hubby and I are weather geeks of sorts ourselves......have a weather station at our home in Cape Carteret, NC and we're particularly interested in hurricanes, of course. I sure hope you have a very slow, boring season!

pojo · Post by **pojo** » July 2, 2007 7:56 pm

bubba phan wrote:Please don't tell me there will be a test on the above, Shannon!

My hubby and I are weather geeks of sorts ourselves......have a weather station at our home in Cape Carteret, NC and we're particularly interested in hurricanes, of course. I sure hope you have a very slow, boring season!

there sure is

(J/k)

springparrot · Post by **springparrot** » July 2, 2007 8:12 pm

pojo wrote:
bubba phan wrote:Please don't tell me there will be a test on the above, Shannon!

My hubby and I are weather geeks of sorts ourselves......have a weather station at our home in Cape Carteret, NC and we're particularly interested in hurricanes, of course. I sure hope you have a very slow, boring season!
there sure is (J/k)

Thanks Shannon
Just have to remember this thread before I ask questions

TropicalTroubador · Post by **TropicalTroubador** » July 2, 2007 8:23 pm

How about ABTO - Ass Blown to Omaha?

bravedave · Post by **bravedave** » July 2, 2007 8:28 pm

TropicalTroubador wrote:How about ABTO - Ass Blown to Omaha?

Yeah, let's hear some "nonstandard" nomenclature...

pojo · Post by **pojo** » July 2, 2007 8:31 pm

bravedave wrote:
TropicalTroubador wrote:How about ABTO - Ass Blown to Omaha?
Yeah, let's hear some "nonstandard" nomenclature...

No need to explain that... nomenclature will all use in daily life.

TommyBahama · Post by **TommyBahama** » July 2, 2007 8:32 pm

i smell a hijack coming!!!

surfpirate · Post by **surfpirate** » July 2, 2007 10:06 pm

TommyBahama wrote:i smell a hijack coming!!!

I love acronyms. I use them to make subtle little rebellious statements in my humdrum corporate management job.

Years ago, while working for Bell Atlantic before Verizon was Verizon .... I managed a group of IT developers scattered around the country. This particular group was responsible for data and software security. We named our group Bell Atlantic Data And Software Support. That worked fine for over a year until I was told to change the name of the team by some uptight executive after I started using the acronym BADASS instead of the full name on all of my communications.

Years later, after Bell Atlantic became Verizon I managed another team that built much of what is out on the Verizon.com website today. Our group built many of the internally generated reports. I tried, but I never could quite come up with a good name that used the acronym VIAGRA (Verizon Internet Accounting Generated Reports ........ that last "A" always stumped me). I really wanted to tempt fate and publish our reports using that acronym and the phrase "VIAGRA - Working Harder To Please Our Clients".

..... surfpirate

SummerByTheLakeside · Post by **SummerByTheLakeside** » July 2, 2007 11:07 pm

Hey, cool! My dad was in the Hurricane Hunters back in the 1950's. He'd wanted to be a Navy pilot (he's held a civilian pilot's license since the age of 14), but they made him a meteorologist instead. He was aloft nonetheless.

It's all his fault that *I'm* a weather geek, lol!

pojo · Post by **pojo** » July 2, 2007 11:45 pm

SummerByTheLakeside wrote:Hey, cool! My dad was in the Hurricane Hunters back in the 1950's. He'd wanted to be a Navy pilot (he's held a civilian pilot's license since the age of 14), but they made him a meteorologist instead. He was aloft nonetheless.

It's all his fault that *I'm* a weather geek, lol!

Cool Beans