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 Hurricane Hunters

Hurricane Hunters
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 8 to 9
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.85

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    airsick, cyberflight, downdrafts, dropsonde, eyewall, mile-long, preservers, copilot, turbulence, pinpoint, transmitter, navigator, bailing, adventurous, rafts, survival
     content words:    US Air Force Reserves, Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, Hurricane Hunters, National Weather Center, Atlantic Oceanographic, Meteorological Laboratory

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Hurricane Hunters
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1     Aviators with the US Air Force Reserves 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron fly right into the eye of a hurricane. Since 1944, this group, known as the Hurricane Hunters, has been flying into hurricanes to get data that can't be gotten any other way. Even modern radar and satellites can't obtain the life saving information that these adventurous airmen send back.
 
2     The Hurricane Hunters send back information about the wind speed, air pressure, and temperature in a hurricane. They can pinpoint the pressure center of the hurricane. They look for drops in the pressure, which are signs that a storm is strengthening. The Hurricane Hunters have improved the forecasting of hurricanes, and they make it possible to issue earlier warnings that may save people's lives.
 
3     A Hurricane Hunter's plane carries a crew of from six to fifteen people, including the flight crew and meteorologists. This may include a pilot, a copilot, a flight engineer, and a navigator, a chief meteorologist, a dropsonde operator, and a weather officer.

Paragraphs 4 to 9:
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