A third radar on the bottom of each P-3 collects more data. Using satellite links, the planes radio data back to the Hurricane Center in Miami, including Doppler radar photos that show details of a hurricane's structure. The P-3s are also used for other kinds of weather research and have flown all over the earth from the tropics to the Arctic. During the spring of 1995, one of the P-3s is taking part in Project Vortex, a major tornado research project centered in Oklahoma. Even though they routinely fly into hurricanes, the P-3s do not fly into the kind of Great Plains thunderstorms that create tornadoes.
Lightning strikes are routine, as many as three of four per storm penetration.
Only damage is small burn holes. Pilots fly into storms with cockpit lights turned up full to help prevent being temporarily blinded by lightning. A P-3 measured the lowest surface air pressure ever in the Western Hemisphere, 26.22 inches of mercury or 888 millibars, in Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. NOAA crews spotted the Russian aircraft in the eye on one pass. The planes coordinated their flights to avoid coming dangerously near to each other.