Technologies

Inside Hurricane Lee: See Stunning Views From the Storm’s Swirling Eye

The Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters flew into the eye of Hurricane Lee and captured video from within the massive Category 5 storm.

Whether seen from within or from space, Hurricane Lee is a monster. There are still many unknowns about the storm’s path and potential impacts on land.A bold crew of Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters flew a plane into Lee’s eye on Thursday, capturing some impressive video from within the belly of the beast. The footage shows thick clouds around the eye, lit up by flashes of lightning.

Here’s last night’s flight inside the eye of Cat 5 #hurricaneLee pic.twitter.com/I9Gmy4sHut

— Hurricane Hunters (@53rdWRS) September 8, 2023

The Hurricane Hunters are officially known as the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. The group operates out of Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. Specially equipped Super Hercules aircraft are designed to weather hurricane extremes and gather data on a storm’s winds, temperature and structure.

The view from inside the storm complements what satellites are seeing from far above. NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration operate the Suomi NPP weather satellite. It captured a view of Lee on Thursday that shows the storm swirling over the Atlantic Ocean.

Satellite view shows large, round Hurricane Lee as white swirling clouds over a dark ocean.

The National Hurricane Center declared Lee a Category 5 storm on Thursday. Hurricanes are ranked from 1 to 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale based on the storm’s maximum sustained wind speed. A Category 5 storm has winds of 157 miles per hour or higher. A major storm like this has the potential to cause catastrophic damage to homes, structures, trees and power grids. According to the NHC, a Category 5 hurricane impact can leave an area uninhabitable for weeks or months.

While Lee is for certain a major storm, its future is hard to predict. «It is way too soon to know what level of impact, if any, Lee might have along the US East Coast, Atlantic Canada or Bermuda late next week, particularly since the hurricane is expected to slow down considerably over the southwestern Atlantic,» the NHC said in a Friday morning update.

The NHC warned of a likelihood of dangerous surf and rip currents in the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, the Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas and Bermuda through the weekend. That warning extends to the US East Coast beginning Sunday.

Hurricane Lee represents one of the most powerful storms possible. Research has tied the climate crisis to more extreme and destructive Atlantic storms. NOAA forecasters had originally expected a normal hurricane season for 2023, but it increased the prediction to «above normal» in August, citing record-warm sea surface temperatures. The new outlook calls for up to five major hurricanes like Lee. The Atlantic hurricane season runs through the end of November, so Lee likely won’t be the last monster storm to rage across the ocean.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, April 7

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 7.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Informative commercial, for short
Answer: PSA

4A clue: Something you trace to draw a Thanksgiving turkey
Answer: HAND

5A clue: ___ Johnson, former Prime Minister of the U.K.
Answer: BORIS

6A clue: Opposite of include
Answer: OMIT

7A clue: Crosses (out)
Answer: XES

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: City with the Notre-Dame Cathedral
Answer: PARIS

2D clue: Bad mood
Answer: SNIT

3D clue: About eight minutes of the average half-hour sitcom
Answer: ADS

4D clue: Remote worker’s office, perhaps
Answer: HOME

5D clue: Word that can follow each group of circled letters (and hints at its shape)
Answer: BOX

Technologies

NASA’s Artemis II Breaks Record With Trip Around The Moon

Technologies

In Honor of the Artemis II Mission, Explore the Moon in Fortnite Now

You might not be able to see the moon the way the Artemis II team is, but there’s an educational Fortnite simulation that will get you onto the celestial body’s surface.

You may not be able to explore the vast majesty of space in the same way that the four-person crew of the Artemis II is, but you can still get an up-close-and-personal view of the moon… in Fortnite, at least.

While you may not be able to slingshot around Earth’s own lunar body, space enthusiasts can see a little bit of what the Artemis II crew is seeing by spending time on the Lunar Horizons Fortnite map right now. The map is a creative collaboration between Fortnite’s creator, Epic Games, and the European Space Agency. Lunar Horizons was released in 2024 after extensive testing and play from ESA trainee astronauts.

If you’re looking to learn more about our own orbiting body, the Lunar Horizons map is an educational simulation of the surface of the moon’s South Pole.

It blends game mechanics with learning, as players get to build up their own sterile lunar habitat bases, interact with ESA astronauts and roll around with robotic rovers as they discover informative plaques that contain information about the moon and international space agencies. There are still dangers to navigate, too — a solar storm may strike when you least expect it.

If you’re interested in exploring the moon, we’ve got all the information you need to join in on the Fortnite fun below. And if you’re looking for a more serious livestream during this momentous human achievement, tune into NASA’s feed here.

How to join the Moon Fortnite island while you follow the Artemis II mission

The Lunar Horizons Fortnite map is a great educational simulation that shares details about ESA’s work and catalogs information about humanity’s lunar research.

These three simple steps will get you up and running (or more accurately, taking slow leaps and bounds) on the surface of the Lunar Horizons Fortnite map:

Download Fortnite

If you haven’t played Fortnite before, but you want to check out this limited-time event, you’ll have to download the game. If you’re on PC, you can download Fortnite for free from the Epic Games Store. Console players can navigate the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store or Nintendo eShop in order to download Fortnite on their devices.

Navigate the in-game menus until you reach the Search button

Once you’re in the game, scroll down past the different official Fortnite game modes and the Discover tab until you find the Search button.

Input the Lunar Horizons island code

In the search bar, you can input a map’s name or its distinct search code in order to find it in the map directory. You can search for the Lunar Horizons map or input the code 3207-0960-6428 to explore this map in time.

Correction, 3:35 p.m. PT: This story initially was in error about the features available in the Lunar Horizons map. There is no Artemis II-specific mission in Fortnite. Rather, the Lunar Horizons map is an educational simulation of part of the moon’s surface.