The United States Air Force has improved its capability to detect hazardous weather.

In the Atlantic Ocean, threats of violent weather are investigated by the Hurricane Hunters of the Air Weather Service. These men perform Air Force weather reconnaissance missions in areas where storms build up their intensity.

The Hurricane Hunters are flying WC-130 aircraft, newly instrumented by engineers at Warner Robins Air Materiel Area, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia.

These Air Weather Service crewmen penetrate the heart of a storm and collect information which, for the first time is immediately relayed in flight to a hurricane warning centre.

New instruments on board the aircraft include an improved dropsonde, a weather sensing device dropped from the plane by parachute. A small transmitter in the dropsonde radios weather readings back to the aircraft.

Rapid, accurate storm forecasts, made possible by the Hurricane Hunters, give the public time to guard against injury and damage.

While supporting military operation throughout the year, Air Weather Service of the U.S. Air Force also protects life and property from the fury of tropical hurricanes.