A Few Of FR's Finest....Every Day....05-14-03....Hurricane Hunters

dansangel; Billie

[dansangel]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

On Mondays please visit us to see photos of A FEW OF FR'S VETERANS AND ACTIVE MILITARY

If you have a suggestion, or an idea, or if there's a FReeper you would like to see featured, please drop one of us a note in FR mail.

We're having fun and hope you are!
~ Billie, daisyscarlett, dansangel, dutchess, Mama_Bear

Hurricane Hunters

While most of us who have been through the fury of a hurricane would do everything we could to avoid bearing the brunt of its destructive energy, there are some very special individuals who purposely fly into the storm to gather data for the National Hurricane Center. They have come to be known as "Hurricane Hunters."

The Hurricane Hunters who are stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi typically fly in a WC-130 Hercules aircraft. The crew is made up of six people; the aircraft commander, pilot, flight engineer, navigator, weather officer and a dropsonde (more about that in a minute) system operator.

Hurricane season lasts from June 1 through November 30 as most residents of the East Coast and Gulf regions know all too well. Most tropical depressions that grow into full-fledged hurricanes begin their "lives" off of the coast of Africa. While travelling over the Atlantic Ocean, these tropical depressions may find conditions ripe for building up to hurricane force.

Once that happens, the Hurricane Hunters swing into action. Boarding the WC-130 Hercules and taking off on their mission, these very brave people actually fly into the storm, recording data on position, dewpoint and pressure readings every thirty seconds and beaming this information, by satellite, to the National Hurricane Center.

One of the methods used to gather this information is via a dropsonde. This device is a small canister about the size of a large "Pringles" chips can. The dropsonde acts as a "mini-weather station" and is fired out into the storm by the system operator. While the dropsonde is falling, a parachute is deployed, allowing the device to transmit important information in tandem with the weather officer's onboard computer. This data is interpreted at the National Hurricane Center so that appropriate life-saving warnings may be broadcast to those in the storm's path. In addition to helping forecasters to make accurate predictions during the course of the storm, the data also aids hurricane forecasters in their understanding of what makes such a storm "tick," improving their forecast models.

In the event that Keesler AFB is inaccessible due to a hurricane positioned in the Gulf, Charleston AFB, Patrick AFB and Homestead AFB are all alternate locations for the Hurricane Hunters. No matter where the storm is located nor how intense, the Hurricane Hunters are ever-ready to put themselves into harm's way so that lives may be saved.

May God bless and protect those that risk their lives in an effort to save ours. It is with great pleasure that I bring the "Hurricane Hunters" to a Few of FR's Finest!

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 05-12-03 Military Monday 05-13-03 How Does Your Garden Grow?

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
2) Once there you can click on any month and even click to the right to go into next year. Once you are in the month that you joined FR you will need to click on the number in the calendar and then an add item screen will come up.
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God Bless Our Military

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Below are names of some of our FReepers' loved ones who are serving our country. If you have someone you would like to add, please address a post to Billie; Daisyscarlett; Dansangel; Dutchess; Mama_Bear; and we will add their name to this list. As we pray for them, we pray also for all our nation’s leaders, and military personnel, and their families and friends. May God hold them close to His heart.

~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~

We ask Lord, that You guide the leaders of our great country in their hour of decision. The burden that has been placed on their shoulders is overwhelming. We ask that with Your infinite wisdom You guide them gently to the right decisions.

Please give us the strength, Lord, to get through each difficult and devastating day that faces each of us and our country. Protect and guide our Military that are now being called to duty, strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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OhioWfan........................son mystery-ak..........son, husband Gogrammy................grandson Inspectorette...................son Blessed American..........nephew Slip18..........................nephew anniegetyourgun...........nephew Pippin....niece,nephew,loved one Doug from Upland......son-in-law weldgophardline.....brotherinlaw Future Snake Eater..........cousin WaterDragon..son-in-law,grandson BeforeISleep...................son Warrior Nurse...........active duty SK1 Thurman...........active duty David Osborne.........active duty fc2tomschermuly......active duty bkwells..................active duty LadyX....................grandson LongCut..................active duty Trish.......................active duty The Mayor................niece

Maigrey................cousin ladtx....................2 sons Mama_Bear...........nephew gator girl............husband severa................husband MozartLover...........nephew LBGA........................son SpookBrat...........nephew Himyar.....................son boxerblues............2 sons the piper...................son sheeza...............husband kemathen7...........husband Diver Dave................niece deadhead................cousin JimRobinson.....2 nephews Armymarinemom.....3 sons Consort...........2 daughters Darheel..................niece dixie sass.............nephew BeAllYouCanBe.........son AgThorn.............2 sons kneezles...........son

[dansangel]

Come to think of it, that would have made me 33...hmmm, never mind.

Must be a *magical* age. :-)

The airport is still in Vandalia and *still* surrounded by cornfields, so some things remain the same. I-675 has brought some sprawl outward, but not that far yet.

Wright State now has 2 more buildings and several thousand more students than when I attended. It has gotten downright HUGE. It also boasts a good sized arena called the Nutter Center.

[HiJinx]

Parenting is such fun!

[dansangel]

Check out the growth here:

http://www.wright.edu/

[dansangel]

Enjoy! If I've retired for the evening by the time you get back, have a wonderful evening!

[deadhead]

You saw the Buckeyes play?

Yes, and it was a lot of fun. My cousin's friend works at the University and has season tickets, a couple of times when I was in town, he gave the tickets to us. I have also had the opportunity to see the Vols play at the University of Tennessee. I have brothers who played football from when they were little ones, me and my Sis were always cheering them on. Love football.

Colleen

[MeekOneGOP]

hehe ! :O)

Headin' out in a few minutes. See ya'll manana night or Friday a.m. !

[nicmarlo]

love all those little icons 'n things you and Dansy post. They're so cute!

Good evening Billie; thanks, they're fun to post, too!

[dansangel]

Give Dad a hug for me. I'm so glad he's doing better after that scary accident that he had.

[dansangel]

(((((((nicmarshmallow)))))))

It's about time you got here! I've been mumbling to myself....LOL!

[nicmarlo]

Well, when I got home around 6, I cleaned like the devil (you would know about that!) and ate some dinner.....then I couldn't connect...I kept getting booted off....so I decided to shut off the computer and reboot that way. But it's still REALLY slow.....I can't figure out why.

[dansangel]

It has been bogging down occasionally. Sometimes when I hit the "post' button, everything freezes for a minute....and that's with DSL. So, I think something is up Internet-wise. Not necessarily with your rig.

I cleaned like the devil (you would know about that!)

ROFL! :-)

[Mama_Bear]

Finally, I'm here! I've been working on Friday's post all day, thinking, "I've got to get to the thread before everyone leaves". Time just got away from me. We've also had two thunderstorms come through that have caused me to have to shut down my computer for awhile. I don't know what's up with our weather, we NEVER have rain this time of year.

This is such an interesting story about our brave Hurricane Hunters, and beautifully presented, as always. Thank you, Dansy. They truly deserve to be in the Finest Spotlight.

I am hoping to get Friday's post finished by this evening, so I can spend a little more time on the thread tomorrow. :-)

((((((((((sistah hugs))))))))))))))

[dansangel]

Outta here. Another 4:30 a.m. wake-up awaits.

((((((((HUGS)))))))))

[nicmarlo]

I give up. I can't stay on the internet for more than a few minutes without getting disconnected. This has been going on for about an hour now. Maybe in the morning whatever the problem is will have resolved. Have a good sleep, dansy! hugs to you. You did a wonderful job on this thread; I couldn't read all the posts, because now when I could, my computer, or the internet, won't let me......maybe tomorrow night I'll be able to catch up. Tomorrow will be another bad day at work, so I'm not expecting much ability to but on during the day. Sweet dreams to you.

[Mo1]

FOFL ... Oh that is soo funny

[Mo1]

3 at once?

God bless them and best of luck

[Billie]

Hi, Pip - said hello briefly just before lunch. Thought I'd come back and see what's going on tonight. :)

[Billie]

Hi, Temple - know you're probably gone - see you tomorrow - it's John's Two Cents day. :)

[Billie]

Hi there, LG. Did you find what you were looking for? As I said in FReepmail, we don't post the dollz here, but do let me know if you'd like me to fix that brunette for you. :)

[Temple Owl]

I am right here waiting to hear from you, I'll look for John's essay in the morning.