Incredible footage captured by the US Air Force’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron of the inside view of Hurricane Melissa. The hurricane is currently a Category 5 as it barrels towards Jamaica.
A record-breaking 252 mph wind reading measured by a dropsonde launched from an NOAA Hurricane Hunter airplane during a mission into The mind-boggling gust broke the previous record high wind reading set in the Western Pacific during Typhoon Megi in 2010, which was verified at 248 mph.
The colossal wind reading was verified by the US National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research , the organization responsible for originally developing dropsondes decades ago, that continues to provide the only operational dropsondes used worldwide. Dropsondes are Pringle-can-sized weather instruments launched from research planes into tropical storms that gather measurements of crucial data including pressure, humidity, temperature and wind that are ingested back to the research planes to later inform forecast models. researchers aboard the plane noticed a measurement that caught their attention; an astonishing 252 mph wind reading, the strongest hurricane wind ever captured by a dropsonde, according to the USNSF NCAR.Upon receiving the potentially record-breaking reading via satellite, the National Hurricane Center contacted researchers at the USNF NCAR to verify the statistic. After running the dropsonde reading through a series of tests, no anomalies were found, and the new record for the strongest hurricane-force wind had officially been verified.According to the USNSF NCAR, a potential record-breaking gust from Hurricane Katrina was thrown out when substantial issues were found in the recording process.A man walks along the coast as trees are whipped by the wind in Kingston, Jamaica, on Oct. 28, 2025.After deployment, dropsondes deploy a parachute and record measurements two to four times per second as they drift through the hurricane, gathering the essential statistics forecasters use to track the movement of the storm and issue alerts in affected locations. The verified wind reading is just another record-breaker associated with Hurricane Melissa, a deadly category 5 monster hurricane that is tied for the strongest Atlantic Hurricane to make landfall on record. Terminally ill 25-year-old chooses to die on 'own terms' after battling rare illness her entire life: 'Please let me go'Young tourist dies during stay at bed-bug-filled Bali hostel after alleged poisoningKevin Spacey reveals he’s homeless and ‘living in hotels’ seven years after sexual assault scandalWill the gameplan for Jaxson Dart look differently with Mike Kafka now the head coach? | Blue RushA US Air Force Reserve crew flies through Hurricane Melissa to collect weather data on Oct. 27, 2025.A man walks along the coast as trees are whipped by the wind in Kingston, Jamaica, on Oct. 28, 2025.
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