🤯Melissa Shatters Another Record

There is NOTHING brewing out there...I promise, but I just had to drop a line to share some very what I would consider mind-blowing things that just happened.

During a Hurricane Hunter mission, a dropsonde, a weather instrument used to collect weather data from the aircraft to the ocean surface, recorded a wind gust in Melissa of 252 mph.

You read that right.

Well, Wednesday, After an extensive review process, the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research CONFIRMED the measurement.

Now this is “just” a gust and not sustained, however, this could be instrumental in determining if Melissa may have actually been stronger than the 185 mph storm. Click here for more.

The wind gust by the way was recorded about 800 ft. above the ocean surface.

Speaking of the ocean surface: There is no way to measure the weather feet off of the water, right?

WRONG!

Uncrewed systems such as drones have burst onto the scene recently. For the first time EVER, it is believed the deployment and controlled flight of one of these drones into a storm has been captured on video.

These can get very low to the ocean surface, much lower than the approximately 10,000 ft. the NOAA P3 Hurricane Hunters fly.

This was also during Melissa. You have to check this out!

The video just dropped and I had the chance to talk with the CEO of the company that built this uncrewed aircraft system.

I would not be surprised to see Melissa’s intensity increased from the current 185 mph max sustained winds based on a number of factors. We will find out for sure in the NHC’s final report in the offseason.

Talk you Monday to put a bow on this hurricane season.

- Jonathan

Let me know if there is anything you want to see discussed in a future newsletter entry. My email is jkegges@wkmg.com.

Don’t forget to tune into the nightly weather livestream every Monday through Friday (NOW AT 9:30 p.m.) on the News 6 YouTube channel and ClickOrlando.com. Come with questions or comments!

Catch you soon!

Jonathan

Ways to stay connected this hurricane season

You can log on and chat with me live during our live streaming weather hangout session.

That is every Monday-Friday at 9:30 p.m. To comment, be signed into YouTube and subscribe to the WKMG/ClickOrlando page or click here and become an insider and comment in the live chat box!

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If you live in Central Florida, subscribe to the WKMG/ClickOrlando page.

If you love the weather, whether you’re in Central Florida or not, subscribe to JustWeather!

ClickOrlando.com/hurricane is also a great resource, no matter where you live.

📺 News 6+

If you live outside of Central Florida or don’t have cable, first of all, thank you for finding the Tropics Watch newsletter! We have a lot of hurricane season-related content on demand here, and you can watch all of the newscasts LIVE as well. You can download that on your smart TV or other streaming devices.

One last thing. This is a two-way street. I/we are here for you. Any ideas? Like or hate something?

Have any questions? Let me know. Shoot me an email at jkegges@wkmg.com. Find me on Facebook or X.

We’re in this together. We have families here, too. You’re going to get the same info we give to them. Thank you for your trust. We don’t take that responsibility lightly.

OK, now I’m done.

Talk to you soon!

- Jonathan