An eerily calm photo taken Sunday shows the eye of Hurricane Dorian, one of the most powerful storms ever seen in the Atlantic.
US Air Force pilots known as hurricane hunters are flying regular reconnaissance missions into Dorian, which strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane early Sunday as it tore through the northern Bahamas.
Garrett Black, a meteorologist with the US Air Force's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, flew through the eye on Sunday, giving a glimpse inside the destructive storm.
—Dr. Chelsea ❄️ (@ArcticAirDoctor) September 1, 2019
Video from the National Hurricane Center shows a plane making its way through the cloud.
—NOAA Aircraft Operations Center (@NOAA_HurrHunter) September 2, 2019
The vertical stacks of thick ominous cloud seen in the photo and video are known to meteorologists as the "stadium effect" — a sign of a particularly powerful storm.
People in northern parts of the Bahamas posted videos and pictures to social media on Sunday showing violent rains, winds, and flooding clattering the Abaco Islands.
—NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) September 1, 2019
The National Hurricane Center on Sunday said it recorded maximum sustained wind speeds of 185 mph as the eye made landfall on the Abaco Islands, tying Dorian for the strongest Atlantic hurricane landfall on record.
Read more: Photos show the damage from Dorian in the Caribbean as the hurricane heads for Florida
"You cannot tell the difference as to the beginning of the street versus where the ocean begins," Hubert Minnis, the prime minister of the Bahamas, said.
Hurricane Dorian is now making its way toward Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
It is expected to cause life-threatening storm surge and devastating winds in the US starting as early as Tuesday.
Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina have declared states of emergency.
Read more:
- The 14 most important ways to prepare for a hurricane
- Hurricane Dorian is set to wreak havoc on air travel — here's what you need to know about flights
- Spaghetti models of Hurricane Dorian show the storm heading for Florida — but you should not read them as forecasts
- Hurricane categories tell only part of the story — here's the real damage storms like Dorian can do
- Why hurricanes are getting stronger, slower, and wetter
