2018 Hurricane Season: Hurricane Hunters flying through Michael and Florence

Regular readers of my blog know that I have a great deal of respect for Hurricane Hunters that fly into Hurricanes to collect valuable weather data for the National Weather Service. I want to thank all the crews of the Hurricane Hunters as well as the crews on the ground for providing this data. What you do is dangerous, you are appreciated. Stay safe.

Here is a short video, a little over three minutes of a Hurricane Hunter flying through the eyewall of Hurricane Michael on or about October 9th.


Direct link to video uploaded by WGNO-TV News with a Twist ABC 26

The video below is from the Defense Video and Information Distribution Service aka DVIDS, B-Roll Hurricane Florence - Hurricane Hunters. Video shot on or about September 12, 2018 by Tech. Sgt. Chris Hibben, 4th Combat Camera Squadron. The footage is long, over 16 minutes, but there is some great footage of the crew deploying the instruments used to collect data from the Hurricane, footage  of the view from the airplane of the Hurricane including what appears to be some footage from inside the eyewall. Here is the description from the DVIDS webpage where I got the embed code:

An Air Force reserve HC-130J Hercules attached to to the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron flys aerial weather missions for the Hurricane Hunters into hurricane Florence, Sep. 12, 2018 out of the Savanah Air National Guard base, Georgia. The U.S. Air Force Reserve 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, or Hurricane Hunters, is conducting a storm tasking mission into Hurricane Florence, currently a category 4 storm. The taskings provide weather data for the National Hurricane Center to assist in providing up-to-date and accurate information for storm forecasts. (U.S. Air Force Video by Technical Sgt. Chris Hibben)