Back again!
The weather in Curaçao wasn’t great on October 20th. A tropical wave (called INVEST 98L) was making its way West over the Southern Caribbean, bringing with it a significant amount of rain, lightning and shifting winds. If the weather was not affecting the airport enough, an Avior Boeing 737 (registered YV3012) arriving from Caracas had partially veered off the runway, closing the airport temporarily.
While all that chaos was unfolding, a detachment from the USAF’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron was on its way. Visible on Flightradar24, TEAL 81 (serial 96-5301) and TEAL 82 (serial 98-5307) were just entering the Curaçao Flight Information Region while TEAL 83 (serial 98-5308) was South of the Cayman Islands. Local media had been warning for a week of a potential storm forming in the area so it was no surprise to see the “Hurricane Hunters” deploying.
Due to its later arrival, I was unable to photograph 98-5308 on this occasion.
On October 21st, INVEST 98L was categorized as a “tormenta tropikal” (tropical storm) named “Melissa”, and is forecasted to reach category 1 hurricane status within a few days.
Edit: “Melissa” became a hurricane on Saturday, October 25th.
Edit: A 4th WC-130J, serial 97-5303, arrived on October 27th
Edit: 98-5307 departed Curacao for Keesler AFB on October 28th, likely for inspection following an encounter with “stronger than normal” turbulence while entering hurricane Melissa earlier that day.
(Click on an image to enlarge)
