'I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy': The people who work inside the eye of a hurricane
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In the inland US state of Wisconsin, a young Heather Holbach had first-hand experience of how "terrifying" a tornado could be. Eager to learn more about their threat, she started watching The Weather Channel – and ended up becoming hooked by hurricanes instead.
"I found it really fascinating there was such a thing," she says of the airborne flight-crews known as "hurricane hunters" who collect scientific data from inside these giant storms. "My dad was a pilot and I'm a big roller-coaster enthusiast, and I thought flying into one sounded really exciting – so I set that as my goal."
After university, Holbach joined the Hurricane Research Division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (Noaa's) Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. Since 2013, she has flown through more than 13 different hurricanes, including numerous category 4s and 5s – the highest ratings a storm can reach.
The resulting emotions can be intense. On flying up into Hurricane Irma in 2017, Holbach wasn't sure that anything she was leaving on the ground in her new hometown of Miami would be left standing when she returned. "It was a strange mix of emotions," she recalls. "There's always a fascination with the storm, but also, that time, a lot of nerves on behalf of my apartment, my friends and my neighbours."
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