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AUSTIN (KXAN) – As the 2026 hurricane season approaches, coastal communities are gearing up for potential storms, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is readying its pilots and crews to take to the skies at the first sign of a storm.
Nick Underwood, a seasoned hurricane hunter with NOAA, explained that preparations for the hurricane season begin well in advance. “We start by taking the aircraft out for training flights, calibrating our instruments, and installing various scientific tools that will be essential throughout the season,” Underwood stated. “Our goal is to ensure that both the planes and crews are fully prepared for any storm that develops.”
When a storm starts to form, hurricane hunters are promptly deployed, working closely with the National Hurricane Center to provide critical, detailed data.
Hurricane hunters deploy when a storm begins to form and work hand in hand with the National Hurricane Center to get detailed information back.
“As soon as they see a system that is likely to start developing, we will forward deploy the aircraft down to the Caribbean as far east as places like Barbados,” Underwood said.
Each mission will see a large team onboard including pilots, meteorologists, engineers, navigators, and scientists.
“Our goal is to fly out to these systems, collect as much atmospheric and oceanographic data as we can, then transmit that back in real time to the forecasters on the ground at the National Hurricane Center,” Underwood said.
According to Underwood, a typical mission on the P-3 aircraft lasts around eight hours and can include several passes through the storm. When a storm reaches major status, there are operations around the clock.
“As soon as one crew lands back, within a couple of hours, another crew will be going back up just to keep that constant monitoring for crews,” Underwood said.
The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season officially begins June 1 and runs through November 30.