Hurricane hunters prepare for another stormy season

First Lt. Garrett Black, 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron aerial reconnaissance weather officer, speaks to schoolchildren aboard a U.S. Air Force WC-130J Hurricane Hunter.

NOAA's Lockheed WP-3D Orion, nicknamed "Kermit", sits on display.

Tech. Sgt. Thomas Barnaby, 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron weather reconnaissance loadmaster, center, speaks to schoolchildren about dropsondes aboard a U.S. Air Force WC-130J Hurricane Hunter. Dropsondes are designed to be dropped from an aircraft to more accurately measure (and therefore track) tropical storm conditions as the device falls to the surface.

NOAA Aircraft Commander Doug Macintyre explains the launching of a dropwindsonde weather instrument, aboard "Gonzo," a Gulfstream IV research jet. The 2017 NOAA Hurricane Awareness Tour was visiting Washington for its first-ever stop at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

NOAA's Gulfstream IV Hurricane Hunter, a high-altitude research jet nicknamed "Gonzo" after the Muppet, sits on display in a hangar at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

NOAA's Gulfstream IV Hurricane Hunter, a high-altitude research jet nicknamed "Gonzo" after the Muppet, sits on display in a hangar at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The dropsonde tube aboard NOAA's Lockheed WP-3D Orion is used to drop small parachute-borne instruments to measure the conditions inside storms.

One of several data monitoring stations aboard NOAA's Lockheed WP-3D Orion.

A view of a flight recorder or "black box," aboard a U.S. Air Force WC-130J Hurricane Hunter.

Visitors climb aboard a U.S. Air Force WC-130J Hurricane Hunter.