Aircraft and uncrewed systems team up to forecast, study tropical cyclones, setting new records

December 30, 2025

In a hurricane season for which the U.S. mainland wasn’t threatened – for the first time in a decade – NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters didn’t sit still.

 

Across the 2025 hurricane season, the Florida-based Hurricane Hunter fleet tallied 417 flight hours on 63 total flights into and above six hurricanes – three of which were category-5 storms. Another nine flights provided disaster response and recovery effort support for Jamaica in the wake of Hurricane Melissa in October. Uncrewed systems set new records, collecting previously unattainable information and showing their increasing worth in the study of tropical cyclones. 

Crewed aircraft lead the way

The hurricane fleet includes two Lockheed WP-3D Orion turboprops, the legendary “Kermit” and “Miss Piggy,” entering their 50th year of operational service to the nation. A high-altitude Gulfstream IV jet known as “Gonzo” rounds out the NOAA hurricane reconnaissance portfolio. One of NOAA’s three Beechcraft King Air twin-turboprop aircraft was dispatched to Jamaica for post-storm imaging.

 

The two P-3s fly a flight pattern through the eyewall of a hurricane around 10,000 feet. This season, the two aircraft tallied 53 hurricane penetrations – when the plane flies through the eyewall into the eye and back out again. The Gulfstream jet maintains a mission altitude of 45,000 feet, flying above and around a tropical cyclone, and detects weather systems like steering currents that affect the cyclone below. 

 

The three aircraft, all of which are flying laboratories, include multiple sensors. NOAA-exclusive tail Doppler radars help develop a three-dimensional image of a hurricane for forecasters and researchers. The P-3s also carry multi-modal radars and Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometers that measure over-ocean wind speed and rain rates. All of these are key indicators of storm surges, a major cause of hurricane-related deaths.

Uncrewed systems coming on stronger

NOAA leverages uncrewed systems, from both air and sea, to help improve forecasting and research.

 

During the 2025 hurricane season, NOAA’s three Hurricane Hunter aircraft successfully deployed more than 1,300 instruments, including GPS dropsondes and Black Swift S0 uncrewed aircraft systems, providing essential low-altitude data on tropical cyclone structure. 

 

Operational records were set in Hurricane Melissa. One dropsonde recorded a wind speed of 252 mph, breaking the record for the strongest wind recorded by a dropsonde. An S0 achieved a record-setting 120-minute flight duration and provided the first-ever video from an uncrewed aircraft system. The S0 uncrewed aircraft provided more than 18 hours of data, flying in four storms, further proving the value of uncrewed systems in NOAA’s data-collection arsenal. 

 

On and below the sea surface, uncrewed marine systems also collected observations within the path of numerous tropical systems. NOAA and partners deployed 80 underwater gliders and eight Oshen C-Star uncrewed surface vehicles, collecting real-time atmospheric and oceanic measurements that were assimilated into forecast models and used by the National Hurricane Center to inform track and intensity forecasts. 

 

During certain flights, the NOAA Hurricane Hunter team targeted the location of the uncrewed marine systems for overflights and dropsonde launches to gather co-located data that can paint a better picture of a storm in the air and underwater. Additionally, the C-Star uncrewed surface vehicles navigated major hurricanes like Humberto and Melissa — becoming the first uncrewed surface vehicle to meet a category-5 hurricane. 

After the storm, capturing imagery for decision makers

After category-5 Hurricane Melissa swept across Jamaica, NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey supported disaster response and recovery efforts, using a NOAA King Air and its crew. Over the course of more than 55 flight hours on nine aerial survey flights, the aircraft captured high-resolution imagery across approximately 1,573 square miles, collecting nearly 15,000 image frames.

 

Data collected by NOAA aircraft, uncrewed systems and cutting-edge technology is integral to public safety, through increasingly accurate forecasting and continued research.

 

 

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Hurricane Season By The Numbers

63 Total     Hurricane    Flights	53 Total  Hurricane   Penetrations	17 Successful   Black Swift    UAS flights	417 Total  hurricane    flight hours	18  Total Black Swift  UAS flight  hours	9 Post-hurricane   reconnaissance   flights	55 Post-hurricane   reconnaissance   flight hours

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