Weather had an impact on the killing of Osama bin Laden

[senorpepr]

http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/weather/dan_blo ... -bin-laden


TULSA - Osama bin Laden might have been put down a day earlier had the mission not been delayed by poor weather conditions.

This information and much more were released Monday as the details of the heroic operations are slowly revealed.

I was watching C-Span late Monday night - there was nothing else on - as they were replaying Rep. Mike Rogers' press conference. He's the Intelligence Committee Chairman and was unpacking some additional information on the planning of this engagement to track down and take out the world's most wanted terrorist.

The details reminded me of a best-selling spy novel, but one thing that caught my ear was the mission was held off a day because of unfavorable weather conditions.

It's been reported that the brave and deadly Navy SEAL team would have taken out Osama bin Laden on Saturday, but the mission was scrubbed because of visibility issues for the crew's four helicopters.

Apparently, military meteorologists made the recommendation to delay the operation 24 hours. They listened and delayed everything until Sunday.

That's when the strike force went in, did the job, and got out without any major weather problems. These kinds of missions are advanced by a lot of meteorological recon.

They monitor the skies, winds, temperatures, you name it. Talk about pressure to get it right, I can't imagine the pressure they face. If I get it wrong, someone gets rain on their picnic, if a military forecast isn't correct soldiers can die.

Weather reconnaissance has always played an important roll in military operations. You might be familiar with the Hurricane Hunters; in fact the official name for these brave men and women is 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. The valuable information they provide is fed into computer models that give millions living along the coast the heads up before tropical systems strike.

I remember reading about how the weather changed the date of the D-Day invasion. They needed the tides to be just right, the moon to be in the right phase to provide the cover of darkness, and clear weather for air support. Military forecasters caused the date to be delayed and the operation succeeded because they made the right call.

The brutal winter conditions also shaped battles during the Civil War. With little to no expectations of how the weather conditions were expected to change, the fewer provisions of the soldiers in the south must have had an impact on the outcome.

My hope is we will find out more about this awesome operation that had people celebrating outside of the White House shouting "U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A." It had us all feeling better about this great country and the men and women who serve.

I have such a respect for those who wear the uniform. For those who served during time of war and during peace time, for those who have served and those serving today, to you and to your family I want to say "Thank you!"

Justice has been done, and that correct military forecast played a small part this incredible undertaking.

[DanKellFla]

Due to the unexpectedly warm air interacting with the walls of the compund the modified Black Hawk helicopter was caught in a vortex and landed hard.

[brunota2003]

I believe such pockets of air are referred to as dead air. Helicopters have been known to drop 200 or 300 feet when they are flying and hit one.