Recently came across some memorabilia and reminders of when I proudly served with the Navy - Hurricane Hunters - Jacksonville, Fl and Fleet Hurricane Center - Miami, FL.As a member of the Hurricane Hunter squadron, my job was to gather and send weather related data from around and inside the eye of the storm we were tracking.
Penetrating the wall of the storm was a scary experience with the winds, turbulence and rapid change in altitude(as much as 1000' in a few secs).
Once inside the storm, the serene eeriness of the eye was amazing.
While inside the eye we would fly around taking weather observations at various altitudes from each quadrant of the storm eye . Depending on the size of the storm's eye, we could be inside for as much as an hour.
Completing our mission, we would penetrate back out, always exiting from the milder Northeast quadrant of the storm.
As we returned to base we would prepare and transmit the accumulated weather data and observations back to the Fleet Hurricane Center.
Typically, each of our flights, round trip would last 12 hours. Dick Garboski
