NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters: Brave Pilots Tracking Storms From Above [Video]

NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters: Brave Pilots Tracking Storms from Above

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Hurricane Hunters pilot high-tech aircraft to track hurricanes as they develop and intensify. These missions are crucial for gathering data that helps improve weather alerts and hurricane preparedness. But how did this daring initiative begin?

The Origins of Hurricane Hunters

The origins of Hurricane Hunters date back to the 1940s. On August 7, 1944, during World War II, Lieutenant Joe Duckworth was challenged to fly his aircraft into the eye of a hurricane as a dare. This bold act marked the beginning of a national plan to collect hurricane warning information using aircraft from the Air Force, Navy, and the Meteorological Bureau.

“Lieutenant Duckworth’s daredevil flight showed the potential of gathering data directly from within a storm,” explains Kimberly Meza in …