12/30/2004 - OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (AFPN) -- Air Force Weather Agency officials are assisting in the relief effort underway after tsunamis devastated parts of south Asia on Dec. 26. The agency’s weather technicians have redirected resources to create high resolution forecasts of weather over the affected area.
“When I heard about what had happened, I knew that we could help,” said Capt. Kevin Lacroix, who works in the agency’s meteorological models branch.
Mesoscale Model Five, the weather model being used, is designed to show the forecasted weather over regions around the world. Small windows, areas that the weather models forecast for, can be quickly configured to provide rapid support to real-world events. The weather products are then placed on the Joint Air Force-Army Weather Information Network, where weather technicians around the world have access to them.
In the case of the tsunami relief, the weather products are being used by weather technicians at the 17th Operational Weather Squadron, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, to assist in the military’s humanitarian assistance and disaster response efforts.
