Aircraft Reconnaissance provides live tracking and mission information for hurricane hunters flying into tropical storms and hurricanes. Follow reconnaissance aircraft as they collect critical observations including wind speed, atmospheric pressure, flight-level data and storm-center fixes.
✈️ Hurricane Hunters — Live Aircraft Reconnaissance
NOAA and U.S. Air Force reconnaissance observations, vortex fixes and dropsondes.
🎯 Latest Vortex Fix
🎈 Latest Dropsonde Data
📅 NHC Reconnaissance Plan of the Day
Aircraft Reconnaissance & Hurricane Hunter Flights
Aircraft Reconnaissance provides critical real-time observations from inside tropical storms and hurricanes. Specialized Hurricane Hunter aircraft fly directly into tropical cyclones to collect atmospheric measurements that satellites and surface observations cannot always provide.
The Orbis Weather Aircraft Reconnaissance tracker brings together the latest reconnaissance information so you can follow active Hurricane Hunter missions, storm investigations, and aircraft observations as they become available.
What Aircraft Reconnaissance Measures
Hurricane Hunter missions collect important information including wind speed, atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, flight-level observations, and the location of a tropical cyclone’s circulation center. Reconnaissance aircraft may also release dropsondes into storms to measure conditions from the aircraft down toward the ocean surface.
This information helps meteorologists determine whether a tropical disturbance has developed a closed circulation, locate the center of a storm more accurately, measure its strength, and identify changes in tropical cyclone intensity.
Live Hurricane Hunter Data
During active tropical weather, Aircraft Reconnaissance missions may provide frequent observations from storms in the Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, Gulf, and eastern or central Pacific. Mission availability depends on current tropical activity and operational reconnaissance schedules.
The tracker above includes access to the latest reconnaissance observations, dropsonde information, and the NHC Reconnaissance Plan of the Day when data is available.
Explore More Tropical Weather: Follow the latest tropical activity with Orbis Weather’s Atlantic Basin, Pacific Basin, and Western Pacific trackers.
Official Hurricane Data: Aircraft reconnaissance and tropical cyclone information is also available from the NOAA National Hurricane Center.