Savannah and Hunter Army Airfield will be home to some very important work over the next few weeks.NASA has brought one of their planes to town, to gather details on snowstorms in the US.If you see a pretty impressive looking plane flying in and out of Hunter Army Airfield the next few weeks, there's nothing to fear.One of NASA's Earth Research Planes arrived Wednesday and will be setting up shop until March 1st. The purpose, to fly 65,000 feet above the clouds to gather data from snowstorms."We're pretty over the entire atmosphere at that altitude," said Tim Williams, Pilot, NASA Research Plane. "It's very much similar to what satellite can do, the difference between us and a satellite.. We can bring this instrument back down at the end of the day."Radars aboard the plane will measure the distribution of raindrops, snowflakes, and ice particles vertically in the clouds as well as how they move."The end game, what we do really do for the public," added Williams. "Better models, better understanding and don't forget that a lot of this is training the next generation."Pilot Cory Bartholomew flew the aircraft into Savannah and he says its satisfying knowing he's playing a part in this important research."It's fun to know that I'm a cog and I'm helping produce information that will maybe let us predict earthquakes a little sooner, blizzards a little better, hurricanes," explained Bartholomew.There were several reasons for NASA choosing Hunter Army Airfield and Savannah for their base, primarily access to a hangar and the weather."It takes us a while to get up to altitude, about 300 nautical miles or so," added Williams. "And doing so we might as well be away from that weather we're going to look at and land at a place that has really good weather."NASA also has a plane based in Virginia that is flying into the storms. This will be the first comprehensive study of east coast snowstorms in 30 years.

Savannah and Hunter Army Airfield will be home to some very important work over the next few weeks.

NASA has brought one of their planes to town, to gather details on snowstorms in the US.

If you see a pretty impressive looking plane flying in and out of Hunter Army Airfield the next few weeks, there's nothing to fear.

One of NASA's Earth Research Planes arrived Wednesday and will be setting up shop until March 1st.

The purpose, to fly 65,000 feet above the clouds to gather data from snowstorms.

"We're pretty over the entire atmosphere at that altitude," said Tim Williams, Pilot, NASA Research Plane. "It's very much similar to what satellite can do, the difference between us and a satellite.. We can bring this instrument back down at the end of the day."

Radars aboard the plane will measure the distribution of raindrops, snowflakes, and ice particles vertically in the clouds as well as how they move.

"The end game, what we do really do for the public," added Williams. "Better models, better understanding and don't forget that a lot of this is training the next generation."

Pilot Cory Bartholomew flew the aircraft into Savannah and he says its satisfying knowing he's playing a part in this important research.

"It's fun to know that I'm a cog and I'm helping produce information that will maybe let us predict earthquakes a little sooner, blizzards a little better, hurricanes," explained Bartholomew.

There were several reasons for NASA choosing Hunter Army Airfield and Savannah for their base, primarily access to a hangar and the weather.

"It takes us a while to get up to altitude, about 300 nautical miles or so," added Williams. "And doing so we might as well be away from that weather we're going to look at and land at a place that has really good weather."

NASA also has a plane based in Virginia that is flying into the storms. This will be the first comprehensive study of east coast snowstorms in 30 years.

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NASA basing one of its Earth Research Planes at Hunter Army Airfield - WJCL News