Drone captures video inside Hurricane Helene

A drone intentionally aimed at Hurricane Helene in the eastern Gulf of Mexico took video of the cyclone strengthening in the hours before it made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Saildrone Inc., a California-based maritime data company, said the video was taken less than 120 miles from the center of Helene when it was a Category 2 hurricane.

At the time, conditions were about what a tropical storm typically produces: winds were just over 40 mph, but seas were reported to be about 19 feet as waves propagated from the center of the hurricane. .

The company said it has moved deeper into the hurricane and will release video and data in the coming days as the hurricane moves inland.

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Drones have been present in 3 other hurricanes this season

Hurricane Helene was not the first intercept of the season, as the company previously announced raids on Hurricanes Beryl, Debby and Ernesto.

A Saildrone in Hurricane Beryl reported encountering 25-foot seas and winds exceeding 60 mph while traveling through the Caribbean.

The first major hurricane to pass through a Saildrone was Hurricane Sam back in 2021. The cyclone formed off the coast of Africa and, during its closest passage to Bermuda, was intercepted by a vehicle as it became a monster hurricane. category 4. At that time, the company reported that the sea was at 50 feet and wind gusts exceeded 120 mph.

Guinness World Records later certified that the drone documented the highest wind speed ever recorded by an unmanned surface vehicle at 126.4 mph.

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The giant floating weather stations are controlled remotely from the continental US and are designed to withstand the strongest storms.

Data collected during cyclone missions aims to help forecasters make more accurate predictions, especially when it comes to intensity fluctuations, which forecasters admit still have some way to go to improve.

NOAA has previously stated that in recent decades, the accuracy of hurricane track forecasts has improved more than intensity forecasts, possibly due to warming oceans and subtle ocean currents.

Saildrone has deployed at least a dozen drones in six operational areas in the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.