Aircraft Reconnaissance — Recent Missions
Past 6 hours · Hurricane Hunter flights · Data via NOAA / 53rd WRS, imagery via CyclonicWx
LIVE
imagery auto-refreshes every 3 min
· next in 180s
· last checked —
This page shows the missions that were flying as of when it was built (21:09 UTC, Jul 26, 2026) — right now that's two flights into Fausto, the only storm with active recon at the moment. Missions age out of the 6-hour window and new ones can launch at any time; the images below keep refreshing live for these missions, but a brand-new mission won't automatically appear as a new card here. For the always-current mission list, check the
live source ↗ or
NHC's recon page ↗.
Upcoming missions (Plan of the Day)
Not live-tracked yet — these are scheduled Air Force flights into Fausto per the latest reconnaissance Plan of the Day, via CyclonicWx. Crews ("AFXXX") aren't assigned until closer to departure, and schedules can shift or get cancelled if Fausto weakens further.
AFXXX 0402E
Depart27/0300Z
Entry / Exit0500Z – 1130Z
Fixes0530Z, 1130Z
Area20.5°N 144.3°W
AFXXX 0502A
Depart27/1530Z
Fixes1730Z, 2330Z
Area21.0°N 147.0°W
AFXXX 0602A
Depart28/0400Z
Fixes0530Z, 1130Z
Area21.5°N 149.8°W
Official NHC text products (fallback)
Tropical Tidbits' and CyclonicWx's raw
.txt/.png mission files under /data/ are both off-limits to automated fetching (their robots.txt blocks it), so when a mission's imagery above goes stale or errors out, these NHC-hosted text bulletins are the backup — same underlying data (NOAA/USAF vortex data messages, dropsonde releases, and flight-level high-density obs), always current for the Eastern/Central Pacific basin. They open fine in a normal browser tab even where automated tools are blocked.
Unofficial live viewer built around Tropical Tidbits' and CyclonicWx's public recon imagery (itself derived from NOAA/USAF vortex data messages and dropsonde reports). Always cross-check against the
official NHC aircraft reconnaissance page
and current advisories for anything decision-critical. No recon is currently flying into Genevieve, and Bertha (Atlantic) no longer has an active mission — CyclonicWx only shows its archived track.
