11:10PM Jack Loftus | First off, I hope everyone who stayed behind in the path of Hurricane Ike is OK this morning. Second, we know what we knew about Ike due in part to the guys, gals and tech shown in these
storm chaser photographs. The photo above shows a “Smurf,” or the Stepped-Frequency Microwave Radiometer, which has adorned the wings of hurricane hunting
WC-130J aircraft since 2007. The device, and the 24/7 missions run by the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, have helped increase the
National Hurricane Center’s accuracy rate by 30%.
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