 Flying at an altitude of nearly 31,000 feet, and as far as 900 miles off the coast of California, this Hurricane Hunter, a WC-130J, gathers important weather data to help California meteorologists develop better storm forecasts. Cal OES works closely with our partners, like the U.S. Air Force, to deploy these resources to help Californians better prepare for incoming severe weather. This is about the third time that I personally have been out here doing atmospheric river. Major Forrest Haines has flown missions like these for seven years. These missions are called synoptics, so they're high altitude surveying a larger field of weather. California just endured a series of nine atmospheric river events, which brought heavy rain, strong winds, and flooding to most of the state. Data collected from these flights is vital to better understand future storms brewing in the Pacific, whose past will likely take them directly over California. So it's kind of interesting to fly into the storm, and then, you know, a day later, we will actually live it on the ground. Flying through storms is job one, but every storm is different and presents unique, potentially life-threatening challenges for Major Haines while he sits in the pilot seat. We fly through just about anything. We turn over a placement, and we'll go home early. The WC-130J is the weather variant of the more common C-130. It's outfitted with specialized equipment designed to get a vertical profile of atmospheric rivers. Drops on are fed through a tube in the plane and drop down into the storm. These sensitive instruments collect storm data, including temperature, wind speed, and moisture and pressure levels. Data is then sent directly from the aircraft into the global telecommunications system, a hub for weather data collected from around the world. The telecommunications systems can then pull this data to create more accurate forecasts. Maybe data we can provide to give them a heads up is, you know, our mission. For Major Joyce Hurray, the plane's aerial reconnaissance weather officer, these missions hit close to home. She has family in the Sacramento and Central Coast areas who are facing the storm's wrath. It's very rewarding to do a job that you really have, you know, like a personal touch to you as well. To see photos from this day-long flight and more from us, visit our website news.calaues.ca.gov.