Hurricane Hunters release video of heavy turbulence inside Hurricane Melissa’s eye
NOAA Hurricane Hunters shared a video experienced above normal turbulence levels while going inside the eye of Hurricane Melissa forcing them to return due to safety concern on Tuesday, October 28, 2025.
Stadium effect inside the eye of Hurricane Melissa on October 27, 2025. Credit: U.S. Air Force photo/ Lt. Col. Mark Withee
The U.S. Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, known as the “Hurricane Hunters,” experienced above-average turbulence while flying into the eye of Hurricane Melissa on Tuesday morning and were forced to turn back.
A video shared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows the pilots and the crew experiencing heavy turbulence in the cabin of the WP-3D Orion “Kermit” while going into the eye of the hurricane.
The team was forced to return to its operating location in Curacao after experiencing “forces stronger than normal” that warranted a safety inspection before they could continue, the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron wrote on social media.
A similar situation arose on Monday, when a “Hurricane Hunters” flight left the storm early, the National Hurricane Center said. However, the Hurricane hunters flew back to the eye of the storm multiple times to collect data.
They also reported whats called the “stadium effect”; where the plane was encircled by the tall clouds of the eye wall, giving the appearance of being inside a stadium.
“As of today, NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters have flown nearly 80 flight hours for this storm, and have deployed more than 200 dropsondes along with 12 uncrewed aerial systems,” NOAA said on Wednesday, October 29.
According to the agency, dropsondes measure vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind speed as they fall from the aircraft to the surface.
The data collected by these high-flying meteorological stations can help improve hurricane track and intensity forecasts by up to 20%.
Hurricane Melissa made a historic landfall over Jamaica on October 28, as a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane. While Media sources report around 34 fatalities across the Caribbean, unofficial sources have reported over 50 fatalities due to the storm, including at least 8 in Jamaica.
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I am an Assistant Editor and Severe Weather & Science Journalist at The Watchers, specializing in real-time severe weather coverage, geophysical event reporting, and research-driven scientific analysis. You can reach me at rishav(at)watchers(.)news.
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