BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — On the inside, the hum of an airplane. But on the outside, Hurricane Milton violently churns right outside our window as BRProud joined the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron in the skies.

We took off from Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi to observe Milton’s power.

Lt. Col. Brad Boudreaux, who piloted the flight, explains that “Some of the data that we’re collecting, you can only collect it inside of the storm.”

As we headed south, the blue skies over Biloxi, Mississippi were soon replaced by the dark outer bands of Hurricane Milton while the crew began its work.

Before we knew it, the navigator was setting us up for the first pass into Milton’s eyewall. Turbulence then increased dramatically as the aircraft dropped near 300 feet.

Why Hurricane Milton became so intense so fast — and why more storms may do the same

Even through the rough weather, the loadmaster continued with the mission as he deployed dropsondes. These fall to the water’s surface and act like a reverse weather balloon, collecting information on temperature, dewpoint, pressure and wind speeds.

This data is checked by the weather officer before being sent to the National Hurricane Center in real time. In that first eyewall pass, a dropsonde found winds of 165 miles per hour, confirming Milton’s status as a Category 5 storm.

Boudreaux recalls, “The first time we passed through [the eyewall] was pretty rough.”

After the eyewall, we arrived in the calm eye of the storm where there is a blue sky above and a blue ocean below. The crew collected data nonstop as we continued on our flight path, heading to the eyewall once again.

Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm

With each pass, the navigator plotted a path through the eyewall for the pilots who have a front row seat to view the lightning that illuminates the dark. After five passes through the eye, the nine-hour flight comes to an end as we returned to base.

Boudreaux says he’s flown through many hurricanes and this one stands out. He recounts that “This is one of the stronger ones I’ve flown through. I wouldn’t say it’s the roughest. But definitely one of the strongest storms that I’ve flown through.”

The data from these flights are used to create better forecasts that are meant to help save lives by keeping you informed.

Latest News

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to BRProud.com.