THIS is the heartstopping moment storm chasers are battered by extreme turbulence as they fly into the eye of Hurricane Milton.
The tempest is set to smash Florida within hours bringing with it 160mph wind, 15ft storm surges, and has already forced millions to evacuate.
Scary footage shows scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) being thrown around the flight.
The aircraft named “Miss Piggy” was collecting data on the hurricane heading towards Tampa on Tuesday morning when the footage was captured.
The fearless boffins bump around the cabin and documents are thrown around as the men are forced to hang on.
When one huge jolt shakes the plane the man recording, Nick Underwood, puts his hand straight up to stop his head hitting the cabin.
Underwood drops his phone and wallet with them sliding across the cabin to his coworker who picks them up.
But that boffin is not able to pass them back as he has to use his hands to hold on to his seat.
The pair are surrounded by high-tech computers and sensors with other workers also working further down the plane.
The jolts are so strong that floorboards come up and important senors break.
Underwood laughs at their situation, remarking: “Well, damn.
“Good God… gotta keep these pockets zipped.”
The wind and rain is so thick that when the camera points out the window the end of the wing can’t be seen.
But once they pass through the clouds and reach the eye of Hurricane Milton, the turbulence stops.
The wing, sea, and sky can be seen again as Miss Piggy has reached the serene spot at the centre of the chaos.
Underwood took to X and posted about the flight after the footage was posted by NOAA.
It comes as…
- Hurricane Milton with 160mph winds & 15ft storm surge waves to make direct hit on Florida
- ‘Price-gouging’ hotels slammed for charging Hurricane Milton evacuees $600 per night
- Publix forced to alter store hours at 500 locations and close some shops entirely
He said: “Pardon my Appalachian hoots and hollers but this is right up there with the Ian flight from two years ago. Floor panels came up. Dropsondes broke. A mess in the cabin.
“All that turbulence and we still get the dropsonde out to collect data.
“This is the job. Important work.”
Milton’s reached 180mph on Tuesday, but have since dropped back down to 160mph.
Miss Piggy is a a Lockheed WP-3D four-engine turboprop that flies into storms to measure wind speed, temperature, pressure, and humidity.
That data is important for forecasters and public officials as they need to try and predict where and how strong the storm will hit.
The storm is set to be the worst to impact the Tampa area in more than 100 years if it stays on the current track, according to the National Weather Service.
Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando are set to close in preparation for the storm.
Sick passengers have been evacuated from one cruise ship after it became stranded off the coast of Florida.
Milton is currently 405 miles southwest of Tampa and is expected to cross the Gulf and make landfall just south of the city on Wednesday night.
Storm surges of 15ft are expected – swallowing entire houses with water and anyone trying to ride it out inside.
A whopping 5.5million people are affected by mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders across the central part of the state.
Evacuation orders have closed schools, shut businesses, and forced residents to board up homes and then flee.
Many have also been panic-buying supplies such as bottled water and toilet paper as they prepare for days of chaos.
All flights to Florida from UK cancelled
By Kate Godfrey, Deputy Travel Editor
Airlines including TUI, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have cancelled flights into the state as most of the airports are already closed.
Orlando Airport have stopped all operations, effective from 8am today.
The airport is yet to confirm when they will reopen.
Tampa Airport said on social media: “We will suspend flight operations at 9 a.m. Tuesday and reopen when safe to do so.”
Melbourne Orlando Airport, which TUI currently flies to, has also closed.
They said in a statement: “MLB will close to commercial flight operations at 2PM on Wednesday and will reopen at 9AM on Friday.”
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson asked passengers to “check the status of their flights” before travelling.
A British Airways spokesperson said they were “adjusting flight schedules” and offering flight rebooking options or full refunds.
TUI has already cancelled a flight today, with more being ‘watched’ although are also likely to be cancelled, including:
A spokesperson said they were contacting customers directly who are affected.
US President Joe Biden said those staying in their homes were facing “a matter of life and death”.
He said: “This could be the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century, and God willing, it won’t be, but that’s what it’s looking like right now.”
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the area affected by winds could double in size by the time it makes landfall.
They said: “It will be an extremely dangerous hurricane when it reaches shore”.
What is a hurricane and how do they form?
A HURRICANE is another name for a tropical cyclone – a powerful storm that forms over warm ocean waters near the equator.
Those arising in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific are called hurricanes, while those in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean are dubbed typhoons or cyclones.
North of the equator they spin anticlockwise because of the rotation of the Earth, however, they turn the opposite way in the southern hemisphere.
Cyclones are like giant weather engines fuelled by water vapor as it evaporates from the sea.
Warm, moist air rises away from the surface, creating a low-pressure system that sucks in air from surrounding areas – which in turn is warmed by the ocean.
As the vapour rises it cools and condenses into swirling bands of cumulonimbus storm clouds.
The system grows and spins faster, sucking in more air and feeding off the energy in seawater that has been warmed by the sun.
At the center, a calm “eye” of the storm is created where cooled air sinks towards the ultra-low pressure zone below, surrounded by spiraling winds of warm air rising.
The faster the wind, the lower the air pressure at the center, and the storm grows stronger and stronger.
Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they hit land as they are no longer fed by evaporation from the warm sea.
But they often move far inland – dumping vast amounts of rain and causing devastating wind damage – before the “fuel” runs out and the storm peters out.
Hurricanes can also cause storm surges when the low air pressure sucks the sea level higher than normal, swamping low-lying coasts.
