Saildrone has been making drones to sail into hurricanes for a while now, and the company and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently worked together to send one into Hurricane Helene. The drone entered the eyewall on Thursday, before the storm made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region, and the footage looks, well, chaotic.
What does it look like when a drone goes into a hurricane?
Answer: Chaos.
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Most people wouldn’t want to be inside a hurricane, especially in the eyewall where its strongest winds are. But that’s exactly where a special sailing drone wants to be.
Saildrone has been making drones to sail into hurricanes for a while now, and the company and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently worked together to send one into Hurricane Helene. The drone entered the eyewall on Thursday, before the storm made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region, and the footage looks, well, chaotic.
The tallest waves in the footage averaged about 30 feet in height. The drone is 23 feet long and 16 feet tall and is specifically designed to withstand getting knocked around in a hurricane. This isn’t the first drone NOAA has sent into a storm, as Saildrone’s devices have proved to be excellent at gathering important data on hurricane behavior.
Saildrone has been making drones to sail into hurricanes for a while now, and the company and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently worked together to send one into Hurricane Helene. The drone entered the eyewall on Thursday, before the storm made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region, and the footage looks, well, chaotic.
