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Category 6 has moved! See the latest from Dr. Jeff Masters and Bob Henson here.Former NHC chief Bob Burpee dies
The Tropical Atlantic is quiet. There are no threat areas to discuss, and none of the reliable models are forecasting development of a tropical storm over the next seven days.
Dr. Robert Burpee, former head of the National Hurricane Center, died on Tuesday July 31 after a long illness. He was 65. He served as director of NHC from July 1995 to August 1997, and was forced to step down because of serious medical problems. I had the honor of working with Bob from 1986 through 1990, when I flew with the NOAA Hurricane Hunters as a Flight Meteorologist. Bob served as director of NOAA's Hurricane Research Division (HRD) at that time, and flew on many hurricane hunter missions, accumulating 260 penetrations into the eyes of hurricanes. My most memorable flight with him came in 1989, when we endured a flight into Category 5 Hurricane Hugo which nearly killed us. When we finally escaped the eye of Hugo after being trapped in it for an hour, I remember his masterful understatement, "It feels a little better now, outside the eye!" Bob was always enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and made a great leader. It a shame Bob's career was cut short by his illness--he had unmatched integrity and scientific knowledge. Max Mayfield's blog has a nice tribute to Dr. Burpee.
Figure 1. From left to right: Paul Willis, Frank Marks, and Bob Burpee of NOAA's Hurricane Research Division plan a hurricane research flight. We flew that day out of San Juan, Puerto Rico and studied Category 3 Hurricane Emily as it made landfall in Hispaniola (September, 1987).
Jeff Masters
Dr. Robert Burpee, former head of the National Hurricane Center, died on Tuesday July 31 after a long illness. He was 65. He served as director of NHC from July 1995 to August 1997, and was forced to step down because of serious medical problems. I had the honor of working with Bob from 1986 through 1990, when I flew with the NOAA Hurricane Hunters as a Flight Meteorologist. Bob served as director of NOAA's Hurricane Research Division (HRD) at that time, and flew on many hurricane hunter missions, accumulating 260 penetrations into the eyes of hurricanes. My most memorable flight with him came in 1989, when we endured a flight into Category 5 Hurricane Hugo which nearly killed us. When we finally escaped the eye of Hugo after being trapped in it for an hour, I remember his masterful understatement, "It feels a little better now, outside the eye!" Bob was always enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and made a great leader. It a shame Bob's career was cut short by his illness--he had unmatched integrity and scientific knowledge. Max Mayfield's blog has a nice tribute to Dr. Burpee.
Figure 1. From left to right: Paul Willis, Frank Marks, and Bob Burpee of NOAA's Hurricane Research Division plan a hurricane research flight. We flew that day out of San Juan, Puerto Rico and studied Category 3 Hurricane Emily as it made landfall in Hispaniola (September, 1987).
Jeff Masters
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