These flying weather stations can stay out for 15 hours, feeding information about storms to the National Hurricane Center, which issues hurricane forecasts. Weather instruments on board tell about conditions at the plane's height. The crew also drops instrument packages through a storm. In the tropical heat, seawater evaporates and is carried up by warm, rising air. As the moisture rises and cools, it forms clouds and releases heat.
More heat causes the clouds to rise higher and form thunderstorms.
The layer of humid air needs to reach as high as 18,000 feet to keep the storm fed with moisture. Surface winds generated by the thunderstorms meet at the center of the system and are drawn upward, strengthening the storm. High pressure above the storm pulls up the rising air and keeps the updrafts flowing. Winds blowing outside the storm must blow in the same direction or else they will tear the storm apart. Some crew members bring frozen pizza to cook in the plane's microwave.