Overview
- NOAA released video from its Aircraft Operations Center showing severe turbulence inside a WP-3D Orion nicknamed Kermit during a flight into Hurricane Melissa.
- The agency said the mission’s purpose was to collect critical data that improves forecasts and supports research.
- An Air Force Reserve 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron crew earlier aborted a Melissa mission after encountering dangerous turbulence, according to reporting.
- Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica as a Category 5 storm, leaving much of the country without power and submerging towns before moving into Cuba as a Category 3 system.
- Cuban authorities evacuated more than 500,000 people, and Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency reported at least 25 deaths and 18 people missing.