LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. -- Dark clouds hover over the 19th Airlift Wing Base Operations
building as if signaling the imminent arrival of bad weather.
A storm system highlighted with bright green, red and yellow
light up a radar monitor conveying an ominous message for the 19th Operations
Support Squadron Weather Flight.
Airmen work around the clock to collect and analyze the information
as they piece together a picture of what’s to come.
Spring is tornado season, and the weather flight Airmen are
on the lookout for a potential threat.
Nearly six years ago, a twister ripped through here. Located in tornado alley, the base has a history of
being impacted by severe weather conditions.
As meteorologists, Airmen monitor weather patterns 24/7 and
alert aircrews and base populace of severe weather conditions imminent in the
local area.
“We play a vital role in the mission,” said Capt. Ian Bergstrom, 19th OSS Weather Flight commander. “From pre-planning to
execution, we brief aircrews on weather conditions and alert them if anything
pops up during flight.”
Just as the U.S. Navy uses radars and NASA uses satellites,
the weather flight employs both systems to observe weather patterns hourly.
The team measures and monitors rainfall, cloud height, thunderstorms,
temperatures, tornados, hail and much more, to ensure the safety of the C-130
and its aircrew.
The data collected is then used to produce 3 to 5-day forecasts
for the 19th AW, 314th AW and 189th AW.
The forecasts are dispersed using the flight’s three main functions:
staff services, mission services and airfield services.
Staff services provides base leadership with timely and
accurate weather projections. Mission services briefs aircrews on local weather
patterns. Airfield services provides weather watches, warnings and advisories to
the base.
All base resources are protected from severe weather events
through the weather flights three services.
“Resource protection is our goal,” said Staff
Sgt. Robert Cantu, 19th OSS Weather Flight technician. “Our resources are the base
personnel, aircraft and property; that’s why we issue our weather warnings.”
Human input is the key element that sets the weather flight
apart from ubiquitous weather applications. They maintain a 93 percent accuracy
rating compared to an 84 percent rating by leading weather applications,
according to the Consumer News and Business Channel.
“The models used to collect weather data aren’t always spot
on,” Cantu explained. “Human input is key to identifying issues that the models
don’t pick up. We update and analyze the data consistently for better accuracy.”