53 Weather Reconnaissance Squadron Hurricane Hunter, Soccer, Golf, Classic Rock, Meteorologist, Penn Stater, hardcore weather enthusiast.

Biloxi, MS
Joined April 2018
On way out to #TropicalStormZeta. Pretty eerie with an empty airfield. Let’s see if it’s getting stronger. Stay safe everyone. @53rdWRS
2
22
Overall that was one of the more wild missions of my career… the eye was crazy shaped and closed on the first pass and then open on the second. On the third pass we had a call from the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center about a boat with an emergency beacon that was transmitting just outside the eye. We dropped down and searched for them for a bit. That’s all the wind arrows clumped together sorta in the middle. The beacon was loud but we didn’t get any response on the radio or see anything visually or with radar. Coast Guard was headed out in a helo but storm was well north by the time they made it on scene so no idea what happened with that. Then there was a bunch of severe turbulence on the open south side of the eye, clear air with nothing on radar but pilots had to do all their pilot stuff to keep us flying. Took a radar fix because the turbulence was too violent on the fourth pass. Then made it back in for one final fix before calling it a day. Pics and vids tomorrow… Our PA office got a bunch of them up on DVIDs if anybody wants to use them.
13
51
5
379
29,553
Honoring a sports legend from the eye of #HurricaneIsaias. ✈️💨 Our crew just launched dropsondes into the storm in honor of Coach Ditka on the landfall mission. It begs the ultimate question "Who would win, Ditka or a Hurricane?" @ESPN @ChicagoBears #Isaias #ChicagoBears #NFL
3
12
3
58
5,538
Off to mess with Texas 🤠✈️ We will continue our mission collecting data from #TropicalStormFrancine for forecasters from Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. Shoutout to everyone who works hard to keep our mission going wherever it takes us. #ReadyNow
20
157
15
921
72,111
Ryan Rickert retweeted
Awesome day in Biloxi #Mississippi. Thanks, @oneyounglee, for your great hospitality at Ground Zero—& big thumbs up for all you're doing to revitalize city's historic downtown. 👊 Also great to see Hurricane Hunter @RyanRickert4. (Lunch conversation was Cat-5 hurricane nerdout.)
6
3
109
11,140
#Beryl continues to live on. 2nd to last @53rdWRS mission. Much better on satellite & radar. SLP continues to deepen & winds will most likely begin to increase during this mission. Wouldn’t be surprised to see it upgraded during this mission. #Texas
1
9
1,157
#Beryl is still packing a punch. We were stuck in the soup all day. Every radar blip in the northern half was rough. Went from an open eyewall to fully closed as it approached Jamaica with a really nasty NE eyewall. Got hail the last two passes. This thing is a fighter. @53rdWRS
21
244
44
917
125,071
Inside the eye of category 5 #HurricaBeryl, 4th mission from the #53wrs #wc130j. We will continue missions all the way until landfall and if it emerges into the #gulf we’ll continue until landfall again. Eye was pretty impressive stadium effect today at peak intensity. @53rdWRS
20
403
34
1,397
147,932
Ryan Rickert retweeted
Here is a full list of all of the records Hurricane #Beryl has broken. Truly historic.
7
74
5
349
77,124
Ryan Rickert retweeted
#Hurricane #BERYL is up to 145 knots now—earliest Atlantic Cat 5 on record. Next threatened landmasses are Jamaica (pink) & Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. But it's likely peaked & should be much weaker when it impacts these places. Not sure of my next move—thinking about it.
21
39
4
451
56,876
Ryan Rickert retweeted
After #Beryl impacts the Yucatan Thursday night and Friday, hopefully as a weaker hurricane, more and more guidance starts to turn it north once it reemerges over the Bay of Campeche on Saturday. Even though some guidance has Beryl a TS at this point, some keeps it as a hurricane so the western gulf needs to be on alert potentially for the later part of the holiday weekend and early next week. Much of the future fluctuation and strength will depend on shear and land interaction, but we still have lots of warm ocean out there to keep it going or strengthen it up at times. Stay tuned!
41
226
42
1,336
317,695
Ryan Rickert retweeted
Concerns about being trapped somewhere after a #hurricane do not factor into my decision about whether to chase. I've been trapped many times, & I go into these chases just accepting that's gonna happen. The single & only factor in my decision: my odds of penetrating the core.
29
11
411
49,425
Ryan Rickert retweeted
Powerful #Hurricane #BERYL is racing W, toward S end of Windward Isles. Me: After days of obsessive deliberation, I've decided to hold off on this round & focus on next impact (Mexico or Central America). I'll sometimes play Island Roulette, but I like to go in with better odds.
34
35
5
468
51,831
Hurricane #Beryl continues to quickly strengthen this Sunday morning. The storm is now a very dangerous category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph. Life-threatening winds and storm surge are expected in portions of the Windward Islands by early Monday. Latest at hurricanes.gov
77
1,747
385
4,749
876,982
Ryan Rickert retweeted
TS #BERYL is closing in on Barbados (orange) & Windward Islands (pink). Likely to be a decent #hurricane when it crosses the islands Monday. Me: weighing my options. Ain't sold on any one scenario yet—& there are many. There always are with Caribbean Cruisers. The trick with these setups is picking the right penetration point along the conveyor belt.
26
23
279
40,277
Solar Eclipse seen from the International Space Station
69
2,372
126
15,031
1,205,349
From solar eclipse to Ocean Eclipse in one day! #Eclipse2024 #sunsetphotography #Dallas #delmar
2
376
The diamond ring effect at totality in Houlton, Maine! Cindy and I are emotional. It was so incredible and one of the most spectacular things I’ve ever seen in my life. #scwx #ncwx #Eclipse #Eclipse2024
10
44
4
385
10,525
Ended up being the perfect plan. Traveling to San Diego on eclipse day and picked the layover during totality. #SolarEclipse2024 #DallasTX
4
395
Ryan Rickert retweeted
Just to emphasize how poorly hurricane & global models performed for Hurricane Otis... here's the intensity forecasts initialized 24 hours ago, with the dotted black line showing verification:
59
668
227
2,262
1,494,697
Tropical Storm #Ophelia has formed off of the North Carolina coast - the 11th Atlantic named storm to form since August 20. The only season with more Atlantic named storm formations between August 20 - September 22 is 2020 (12 formations). #hurricane
8
112
10
353
46,249