UAH students deploy south to study Hurricane Ida

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - As Hurricane Ida continues to gain strength in the Gulf of Mexico, a group of University of Alabama in Huntsville students is heading south towards the coast to study the storm.

Ten students and staff with the Department of Atmospheric & Earth Science at UAH will deploy from the Severe Weather Institute for Research & Lightning Laboratories on Saturday morning to the Gulf coast.

This is the very first UAH MAPNet deployment. The group is going down with students from the University of Oklahoma to study inner eye winds and dynamics of the hurricane.

UAH will deploy five vehicles equipped with some of the best mobile technology, such as radar, weather stations, and weather balloons, to gather critical data to analyze and assist future forecasting abilities.

We’re told research and data they find could show small, but crucial details between the non-hurricane and hurricane environments, which could ultimately lead to better forecasting pre-hurricane threats, like severe storms and tornadoes.

Follow the College of Science on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter for frequent updates on the team’s journey into Hurricane Ida.