Hurricane hunters fly into center of Hurricane Lee
Updated: 2:15 PM EDT Sep 14, 2023
ZEE WAS ON THE FLIGHT. WE TOOK OFF. LET’S GO SEE LEE. WE JUST FLEW INTO HURRICANE LEE. SAW TWO FLYING, 160. WE’RE DOING WHAT THEY CALL THE FIRST PASS. AND I’M JUST STARTING TO SEE SOME STORM STRUCTURE. WOW. WITNESSING SOMETHING. A FEW PEOPLE WILL EVER SEE THEM IN, WE PLOW THROUGH. LEE’S WIFE, WIDE SWATH OF 115 MILE PER HOUR WINDS AS A HURRICANE. YEAH, THERE IT IS. IT’S BUMPY, NAUSEA INDUCING. AND THIS IS WHERE WE SPEND THE NEXT THREE HOURS JUST BEFORE SUNSET. AND WE’RE SEEING KIND OF A MESSIER EYE ON THE INSIDE, HOPING TO GET A CLEARER PICTURE BEFORE THE SUN GOES ALL THE WAY AWAY. EXPECTING NOAH RUNS TWO MISSIONS A DAY, FLYING INTO HURRICANES TO GATHER DATA FROM LAKELAND, FLORIDA. WE FLEW EAST, SOUTHEAST FOR TWO HOURS. ALL RIGHT. NOW, LET’S BRING IT BACK TO THE RIGHT. OKAY. WELL, THAT’S GOOD. THAT’S GOOD, EVERYBODY. I EVEN GOT A CHANCE TO FLY THE PLANE. WE WATCH AS THE EXPERTS GATHER CRITICAL DATA FROM INSIDE THE HURRICANE. THIS INSTRUMENT IS CALLED A DROPSONDE. IT IS GOING TO GO RIGHT HERE. LIANE’S GOING TO DROP A BUNCH OF THEM INTO THIS TUBE, OUT THE AIRPLANE, INTO THE EYEWALL OF THE STORM. IT IS GOING TO GET DATA LIKE TEMPERATURE PRESSURE, WIND SPEED AND ALL THAT GOES INTO TONIGHT’S COMPUTER MODELS. ONE RELEASE MIDPOINT THAT INSTRUMENT FALLS THROUGH THE STORM AND IN REAL TIME, IT RADIOS BACK DATA. WE MADE SEVERAL PASSES THROUGH THE EYEWALLS IN WHAT THEY CALL A BUTTERFLY PATTERN, MEASURING SEVERAL PARTS OF LEE. THIS PLANE IS STACKED WITH HIGH TECH GADGETS AND SCIENTISTS ALL GETTING ESSENTIALLY A CAT SCAN OF THE HURRICANE. ONE OF THE HUNTERS IS A LEGEND, JACK PARRISH. HE’S PASSED THROUGH THE EYEWALL OF A HURRICANE MORE THAN 700 TIMES IN THE LAST 43 YEARS. WHAT WOULD A HURRICANE FORECAST BE WITHOUT THE INSTRUMENTATION AND THE DATA WE’RE ABOUT TO COLLECT, WE HAVE TO INITIALIZE A FORECAST MODEL WITH REALLY GOOD DATA AND LACKING THE DATA IN THE CORE OF THE HURRICANE. IT’S THEY’LL BE BACK THERE AT THAT FOR A DAY, MAYBE FIVE DAY FORECAST PERIOD. AND THAT DATA HAS BEEN INVALUABLE, ESPECIALLY OVER THE PAST DECADE. WE’VE SEEN MORE THAN TWO DOZEN STORMS RAPIDLY INTENSIFY IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN, OFTEN RIGHT BEFORE HITTING LAND. SO AS THE CLIMATE WARMS, THOUGH, WE DO ANTICIPATE SEEING MORE RAPID INTENSIFICATION. YOU ALL WILL BE ABLE TO CAPTURE THAT. WE’LL BE ABLE TO CAPTURE IT AS IT COMES ON. YOU KNOW, A LOT OF THING
Hurricane hunters fly into center of Hurricane Lee
Updated: 2:15 PM EDT Sep 14, 2023
VIDEO: ABC Chief Meteorologist Ginger Zee joins hurricane hunters as they fly into the center of Hurricane Lee to help gather data.
VIDEO: ABC Chief Meteorologist Ginger Zee joins hurricane hunters as they fly into the center of Hurricane Lee to help gather data.
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