The Hurricane Hunters spend three months flying over Pacific storms to fill critical data gaps as atmospheric rivers pummel the West Coast.
SEATTLE —
When a series of back-to-back atmospheric rivers hammered the West Coast in December 2025, the storms killed at least five people, triggered devastating flooding across every western state and forced evacuations from Washington to California.
Scientists say storms like those are intensifying, and they still don’t know enough about them.
That’s why the same pilots who fly into hurricanes are now spending their winters chasing a different kind of extreme weather over the Pacific Ocean.
The NOAA Hurricane
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