Happy Hunting
The USAF's 53rd Wx Recon Squadron had a busy hurricane season- logging 927.9 flight hours across the Atlantic, eastern Pacific, and central Pacific basins (Losurdo, 2025). With 13 named storms this year, I can personally relate to how taxing that many hours, especially turbulent, that takes on the body. I served as a dropmaster in the USCG from 2014-2017, where storms became more frequent with each passing year. We saw 8 in 2014, 11 in 2015, 15 in 2016, & 17 in 2017 (NWS, n.d.). Although the number of flights/hours/etc. changes from service to service; busy hurricane seasons take an enormous amount of additional hours & schedule flexibility to support 24/7 operations. But how do hurricane's even happen? The rising ocean temperatures cause the air above to heat up; creating low pressure. This pocket of low pressure rises above the cooler air around it until condensing into a cloud, which raises the hot air even higher. This cycle of condensing/expanding happens in oppos...