FEMA, NOAA, other agencies outline preparedness efforts during tour stop

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - On the heels of the Jackson Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport becoming the first in the state to be designated as “Storm Ready,” severe weather experts gave 3 on your side a first-hand look at how they get information on hurricanes - to keep you safe this hurricane season.

When a hurricane comes thundering towards coastal United States, teams are risking their lives in the eye of the storm to keep you safe and informed at home using information that can only be identified while at the center of a hurricane.

“We’re really only thinking about the task at the time once we’re going into the storm. We’re all working together as one unit to fly through the storm to get the information,” U.S. Air Force Pilot Dwight Manganaro explained.

“We can send the aircraft to fly right into the heart of the storm, they can get us information on exactly how strong it is, how big the storm is, what the motion is, where the center is. And all that helps us improve the forecast,” Director of National Hurricane Center, Michael Brennan said.

As storms form in the Atlantic, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Air Force start sending their pilots and meteorologists up in the sky to find out trends and patterns.

Then, that information is sent to people on the ground to make that data clear to agencies.

“They have instruments that look down at the ocean surface to help you see what are the winds doing at the ocean surface, they measure pressure. So we know what’s the central pressure at the center of the storm, and all that gets fed to the hurricane center. We use that to start the forecast process,” Robbie Berg, Senior Hurricane Specialist with the National Hurricane Center, said.

But how does it get to your screen? Our First Alert Weather Team then uses information from the National Hurricane Center to make local forecasts and give you details on additional threats.

“It’s the partnership here with the National Weather Service and your local media, as well as other partners, of course, in all working together to make the very best forecasts that we can for your local area,” David Novak, Director of NOAA Weather Prediction Center, explained.

“We crunch all that and we give that to the first responders after so they can be ready and know what the impacts might be coming forward,” Director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, Stephen McCraney said.

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