NORFOLK, Va. — At the Fleet Weather Center, they hope for the best, but plan for the worst.
In this case, it is fictitious Hurricane Marge. It's a Category 4, and it's modeled after one most people remember from back in the day here in Hampton Roads: Hurricane Floyd.
It's all part of an effort called "Hurricane Exercise/Citadel Gale 2019."
The idea is to prepare the Navy to respond to adverse weather conditions in U.S. coastal regions and maintain the ability to deploy forces under the most severe weather conditions.
The center's 280 meteorologists and aerographer's mates go through the exact same steps they would if this were the real thing.
"It's pretty awesome," said AG3 Brittany Amos "It's really good practice for us with the hurricanes. Making sure we get everything right, whenever it does come, at crunch time.
They work around the clock, in shifts, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Among their critical responsibilities: protecting the ships already at sea and advising the U.S. Fleet Forces admiral if the conditions warrant a sortie of the 68 ships based in Hampton Roads.
"In many ways, the worse case for a storm for the Navy would be a storm that just comes up and hugs the coast as it crawls northward all the way to Canada," said Capt. Christopher Sterbis. "Could it happen? Sure."
So, this team needs to be ready.
"Basically we are testing the preparedness for the region, along with the Fleet," said LTJG Theron Anderson.
When asked if the sailors are passing the test, he said, "I hope so. I'd like to believe that."
The two-week exercise wraps up tomorrow.
The toll from last year's hurricane season was devastating: 15 named storms, 8 hurricanes, 2 major hurricanes, more than $49 billion in damages and 173 fatalities.