US Air Force (USAF), National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) pilots and scientists are the hurricane hunters who fly into the middle of a
hurricane to obtain up-to-the-minute weather data on storms. Reconnaissance
aircraft was used for hurricane exploration in 1944. After that, different planes
have been used in exploring hurricanes from certain altitude and certain path to
increase the level of safety during collecting essential weather data. Nowadays, the
National Hurricane Center, USAF and NOAA coordinate the activities of exploring
hurricanes in better ways. The USAF pilots fly long missions using use latest weather
instruments and dropsondes to search for signs of a closed circulation of storms.
Dropsondes are dropped out from the plane into the center of the storm to get
more accurate data about the weather conditions and this data is transmitted to
meteorologists to decide the type and the state of the storm. NOAA hurricane
hunters take over mature hurricane that happen close to the USA using latest
technologies in collecting accurate data for hurricane forecasters. Hurricane
hunters will continue to carry out the shaky flights and they will use eye-wall into
these storms for collecting weather data for more foreseeable future.

image source: http://www.weathernationtv.com/news/importance-hurricane-hunters-make-difference/

Mrwan Alkthairi

Meteorology Student