Washington D.C. — Today, Representatives Deborah Ross (NC-02) and Tom Kean, Jr. (NJ-07) led 14 bipartisan colleagues in urging House Leadership to include President Biden’s full funding request for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) three next-generation Hurricane Hunter aircraft in upcoming disaster funding legislation. 

The lawmakers wrote, “NOAA currently has two WP-3D aircraft capable of flying directly into hurricanes to collect critical data necessary for National Weather Service meteorologists to better measure and understand tropical systems. The data collected from these aircraft are essential to improving the accuracy of a hurricane’s track forecast and intensity. When hurricane hunter aircraft are deployed in a storm system in the Atlantic basin, the critical data that is obtained leads to improvements in forecasts of storm intensity by 15 - 20% and of storm track by 10 - 15%, which is on the order of 20 - 25 miles. This refined information can make a substantial difference for coastal cities regarding evacuation orders and other emergency measures. These improved forecasts allow emergency managers to make well-informed, actionable decisions that protect lives and livelihoods and mitigate economic losses.”

They continued, “The need for new aircraft is more urgent than ever as the rapid intensification of tropical storms and hurricanes becomes more common, and hurricane activity impacts a greater area of the U.S. coast.3 Atlantic storm activity in 2024 has been above normal, with 19 named storms and 5 major hurricanes leading to what is likely to be the second-costliest U.S. hurricane season on record (following the 2017 season). This fall, Hurricanes Helene and Milton devastated the U.S. southeast region. Notably, both storms underwent dramatic rapid intensification as they approached landfall, and the forecasts for both storms were aided by NOAA hurricane hunter missions.”

Full text of the letter is available here.