In the early hours of this morning, a research plane piloted by Tim Gallagher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) flew directly into the eye of Hurricane Matthew. The footage below shows the plane struggling to fly through dense clouds and tremendous turbulence at the eye wall before breaking into the calm center of the hurricane. The eye is both peaceful and foreboding as the plane must weather the wall a second time before it can truly escape the storm.
The research crew was sent on this dangerous mission to collect more information about ‘steering currents’ to help NOAA develop a better understanding of the hurricane’s intensity and forecast. Hurricane Matthew could be the most dangerous storm to hit the northern Florida coast in 118 years according to the U.S. National Weather Service. Matthew has been hammering the coastline with 120 mph winds and killed 283 people in Haiti alone.