The ashes of a meteorologist and storm chaser were dropped into the eye of Hurricane Milton as his colleagues sought to fulfil one of his dreams.
The ongoing storm is causing destruction and devastation as it continues to make its way across Florida, but on Tuesday (October 8), Hurricane Hunters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) attempted to use the adverse weather to do at least a little bit of good.
Their mission came following the death of meteorologist Peter Dodge, who worked as a NOAA radar scientist and took part in hurricane aircraft missions.
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Peter passed away last year at the age of 72, and on Tuesday his former colleagues took his ashes with them as they went to conduct research on Hurricane Milton.
When they reached the eye of the storm, about 300 miles southwest of Florida, they dropped his ashes from the plane.
Shirley Murillo, deputy director of the Hurricane Research Division at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, spoke about the decision as she said: “Peter truly had an unyielding passion for participating in field activities, including flying, and an insatiable curiosity for research.
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"By releasing his ashes into Hurricane Milton, we sought to honor his memory and his spirit of teamwork, adventure and curiosity.”
Peter's sister, Shelley Dodge, said that taking Peter's ashes up into the storm recognized one of his longtime dreams.
She described the tribute as 'beautiful' to USA Today, adding: "They honored him because he always wanted to go back up in the plane."
Prior to his death, Peter had celebrated 44 years of federal service during which time he received the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal, two NOAA Administrator Awards, and the Army Corps of Engineers Patriotic Civilian Service Award, the New York Times reports.
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During the flight on which they dropped Peter's ashes, the researchers gathered information from inside, above and around Hurricane Milton to help provide critical and real-time insights to the National Hurricane Center, as well as other modelers and forecasters.
Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday night (October 9) as a category three storm, but it has since weakened to category one.
Early this morning (October 10), the National Hurricane Center said the storm was 'still producing damaging hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall in east-central Florida'.
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However, it added that Milton would 'move away from Florida and to the north of the Bahamas today'.
"Gradual weakening is expected, but Milton is forecast to become a powerful extratropical low tonight," it said.
Emily Brown