Brave scientists on a 'hurricane hunting' plane that is used to study the world's most lethal tempests are preparing to fly into Storm Eowyn as it roars towards Britain. The plane is fuelling up at Shannon Airport in County Clare in Ireland, ready to fly over the storm and take samples along the way. It is one of the most technologically advanced weather measuring aircraft on the planet. They normally work within the hurricane and tornado hotspots from the Gulf of Mexico up through the tornado belt.
Engineers, scientists and the crew left Halifax Stansfield in Canada just after 3am Irish time, and is expected to arrive in Shannon Airport at around 2pm after almost 11 hours studying the storm.
The plane, named 'Kermit', is fuelling up at Shannon Airport in County Clare in Ireland, ready to fly over the storm and take samples along the way. It is pictured in It will fly above, dropping lightweight sensors into the storm and reading their flight to get a handle on the forces involved.
Wishing everyone on that flight a safe return!! When a NOAA team braved Hurricane Milton over the Gulf of Mexico in October , dramatic video showed rain lashing against the windows of the aircraft as it flew through endless cloud coverage that shook the cabin and knocked the crew to the floor.
While dangerous, it is one of the best ways for meteorologists to obtain data to prepare residents on the ground. In a pre-flight briefing for a similar mission, NOAA flight director Sofia de Solo explained the goals of the risky plane ride previously. Millions of Brits have been warned of 'exceptional' hurricane-force mph winds which will create chaos across the UK and cause travel disruption. Hundreds of planes and thousands of trains have been cancelled, with a map revealing the path the extreme weather system will take as it batters the country.
