The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, the Air Force Reserve Command unit at Keesler AFB, Mississippi, had its fourth slowest winter-weather reconnaissance season on record, according to a 1 April 2013 report from National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. The low number of flights can partly be attributed to the fact that many of this year's storms moved west to east over land and did not start over water where reconnaissance flights could have benefited the forecasts. The official winter storm season for the 53rd WRS, known as the Hurricane Hunters, begins in November and lasts through March. To gather data from the Pacific storms, the 53rd WRS can forward deploy to JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, or JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
