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Weather flight forecast provides mission advantage

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Tong Duong
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Partly cloudy skies with a chance of rain may seem like a small inconvenience for many who watch the forecast, but those conditions can drastically affect the planning or success of a mission here.

"Weather is one of the most important factors in any military operation," said Capt. Jimmy Odom, 379th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron, weather flight commander. "Whether it's a local base response to an accident, or planning for a combat mission, we are the first to brief unit commanders. A mission is not planned unless you know what the weather is going to be."

"Mission weather forecasters are responsible for monitoring and forecasting weather for the entire area of responsibility in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom," the captain said. "Any plane that comes in or out of here gets the briefing, in person, over the phone or on our Web site."

The weather flight provides two types of forecasts for the local area, an aviation forecast which provides wind direction, speed, visibility, weather, cloud height, coverage, pressure and high and low temperature readings; and a general planning weather forecast. These forecasts can be difficult due to the unique climate here, according to Captain Odom.
 
"We are in a dry desert environment on a peninsula. Depending on wind direction, the temperature can go from an extreme of 120 degrees with west winds to 90 degrees with northeast winds," said Captain Odom.

Limited access to equipment and technology can also be challenging.

"There are limited surface observations as well as upper air observations in this region of world. In the states, 100-150 weather balloons are sent up twice a day, but there are not nearly as many in this region," Captain Odom said. "The bigger cities do launch some balloons but the data and coverage is scarce."

More than just providing the day's temperature to pilots and unit commanders, the weather flight identifies weather patterns most favorable to mission success.

"Knowing the limitations of the weapon systems we are supporting and combing that with the forecast, we figure out how it's going to be an advantage or disadvantage to us or the enemy," he said. "Our job as forecasters is to identify for the commander how the weather is going to impact the mission."

According to Captain Odom, the weather forecast was the deciding factor for the date of the D-Day invasion and has been used to our advantage in military missions.

"During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the weather flight identified a big dust storm heading towards U.S. forces on the ground. The U.S. Army, who was coming from the south, had to hunker down. The same was true for a division of Iraqi soldiers coming from the north to meet them. The Air Force took advantage of the situation and launched B-1s and B-2s, to bomb the Iraqi forces. When the U.S. Army was able to move again, Iraqi forces were already wiped out," Captain Odom said.  

The challenges of forecasting weather in a different environment has its rewards.

"One of the things I love about the job is the change in weather, it is different at every station," said Tech. Sgt. Elizabeth Covairt, 379th EOSS weather forecaster. "The weather on the west coast of California is different from the desert environment here. In 12 years, I have forecasted in seven locations. I'm really glad I chose this career field because I can't think of another job I would want to do."

We're not weather forecasters, but aviation weather forecasters, Captain Odom said. "There's a lot more to forecasting than 'it's partly cloudy or hot and sunny today," he said.