NOAA’s N42RF flew an overnight reconnaissance sortie as Tropical Storm Moke weakened
The agency’s ‘Kermit’ hurricane hunter completed a Honolulu loop while the National Hurricane Center cited reconnaissance data in its Aug. 22 assessment of Moke.
- Kapolei, HIKapolei, HIPHJR → PHJRAug 22, 20264:24 PM12:10 AMEDT7h 46m
Tropical Storm Moke was weakening Saturday evening, but reconnaissance data remained part of the forecast picture. NOAA’s WP-3D Orion N42RF — known as Kermit — departed and returned to Honolulu in an overnight, more than eight-hour sortie.
In its 5 p.m. Hawaii-time discussion on Aug. 22, the National Hurricane Center said reconnaissance aircraft had measured flight-level winds near 43 knots and used those observations when lowering Moke’s intensity to 40 knots. NOAA identifies N42RF as one of its hurricane-hunter P-3s, equipped to gather measurements inside tropical cyclones where satellite and ground-based data have limits.
The timing, aircraft identity and sortie length support a high-confidence Moke reconnaissance read. The flight record does not identify who was aboard or attribute particular samples to individual crew members.