OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- To combat Mother Nature’s downpour from Typhoon’s Bavi and Maysak, the 51st Operations Support Squadron Weather Flight used their specialized meteorology skills to weather the storm and safeguard Team Osan.

As both high wind and heavy rain furies approached the Korean Peninsula, these warriors ramped up their operations to assure safety and continued mission success.

“(Weather) affects day to day life for not only people, but equipment and assets too,” said Tech. Sgt. Nicholas Graham, 51st OSS noncommissioned officer in charge of mission weather operations. “We inform commanders, aircrew, and base agencies on expected and impending weather conditions that can cause life threatening damage or the destruction of private and government property.”

For 1st Lt. Sarah Rodriguez, 51st OSS weather flight commander, this intensive process to relay the most accurate information with mission planners is critical.

“The biggest advantage we have is a team dedicated to recognizing model bias, terrain effects, and microscale meteorological effects that a weather model’s resolution is simply too low to pick up on,” said Rodriguez. “Our forecasters take into account those effects that computers miss in order to provide a more accurate forecast than what you are able to get on your phone.”

Getting the most up-to-date and accurate information on inbound storms takes more than just looking at a single screen and calling it good. It takes a “perfect storm” of teamwork, communication and science.

“We all put our heads together and make sure we have as much information as possible,” Rodriguez said. “We have conference calls with other military weather entities on [the Korean peninsula] to discuss storm tracks, intensity, and expected impacts several times a day. By doing this, we are able to leverage each other’s experience and make sure we are all on the same page.”

Rodriguez also mentioned the forecasters are in near-constant coordination with each other. The airfield fighter squadron forecasters must be on the same page about weather observations and conditions because a mismatch can delay or even cancel sorties.

Graham noted that the new computer modeling outputs the forecasters use have come a long way since he started in this career field several years back, and while they aren’t perfect, it’s their jobs as forecasters to take live data from other surface weather observations, Meteorological Satellite imagery, weather RADAR, and an encyclopedias worth of various empirical rules and guidelines to make the best educated guess they can.

“But even then, when every one of those items are pointing in one direction a single shift of one variable can drastically alter the system,” Graham continued. “It is the chaos theory or butterfly effect happening all the time. Which then, Weather forecasting is a blend of science meeting abstraction art.”

While the science of meteorology can almost never be truly exact, the Airmen at the weather flight work diligently to ensure they gather the most accurate assessment of the incoming storms, keeping the safety of the base populace and its mission essential equipment at the forefront of their mind.

“For me, its ensuring people have all the information to stay safe with as much notice as possible,” Graham said. “Next would be keeping the iron in the sky, and providing my customers actionable weather information to enhance their combat effectiveness.”

When the time comes and the typhoon passes, the Airmen and families of Osan wake only to find a few downed tree limbs left in its wake. With the expertise and insight from the 51st OSS, people’s lives and the mission continue on.