Hurricane Melissa pushed a research plane to its limit, forcing hurricane hunters to abort a mission Monday morning.
“NOAA aircraft left the storm early after experiencing severe turbulence in the southwestern eyewall,” the National Hurricane Center wrote in Melissa’s latest forecast discussion.
Hurricane hunters are no stranger to powerful winds and intense turbulence, so what happened Monday morning is remarkable. These teams routinely fly specialized aircraft into the most powerful storms on the planet to collect weather data, which is used to improve track and intensity forecasts.
But this flight was “definitely the most turbulent I’ve ever experienced,” Andy Hazelton, a hurricane expert who confirmed he was on the plane, said on X.
According to a NOAA official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press, there were no injuries aboard the aircraft but the plane and the crew were “beat up bad.” It is rare but not unheard of for a hurricane hunter flight to change course or leave a storm due to severe turbulence.
Aircraft positioning data shows that the plane — a WP-3D Orion — was able to take at least two passes through Melissa’s center, collecting critical weather data before experiencing the dangerous turbulence that sent researchers heading for safety.
CNN’s Thomas Bordeaux contributed to this report.
First Appeared on
Source link
