(WSVN) - Teams are flying directly into Hurricane Ian’s eye to learn more about the storm — as it closed in on the Sunshine State.
These scientists are used to bumpy rides, but this Category 4’s fury even testing their mettle.
One hunter called it “the roughest flight of my career so far.”
Flying through the eyewall of Hurricane Ian turned into a wild ride Wednesday.
“There goes the signs, there goes the beds. Holy cow!” said a NOAA member.
Jolting even those who do this for a living.
Video shot by Nick Underwood of NOAA shows lightning flashes out the window.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, aka NOAA, and Air Force Reserve planes routinely fly in and out of eyes of monster storms to gather critical data for forecasters on the ground.
But there was nothing routine about this flight.
The NOAA engineer who shared the video tweeting …
Adding about this picture: “This was the eye. You can see the curvature. Understand this is at night. The light is from lightning.”
Inside the plane, afterwards, was a mess as bunks were tossed around and coffee spilled.
But all in a day’s work for the nation’s hurricane hunters.
A Fox News reporter who was on one of the hurricane hunter flights into Ian, Wednesday, said the plane quickly dropped 1,200 feet going through the eye.
And that video does not do the turbulence justice.
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