Weather researchers unleash fleet of drones that sail directly into eye of hurricane

Pawleys Island, South Carolina, Mayor Brian Henry tells "Your World" that Hurricane Ian was different and brought a significant storm surge to the island. A high-tech sailing drone was deployed onto the Atlantic Ocean near Charleston, South Carolina, this past weekend to collect weather data directly from wicked hurricanes. The autonomous ocean drone, known as a saildrone, was redeployed by California-based company Saildrone Inc., which designs and operates autonomous ocean drones, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to assist the agency in data collection on hurricanes. The same saildrone made international headlines in 2021 when it captured the "first-ever video from inside a major hurricane at sea" when Hurricane Sam barreled across the Atlantic. NOAA has previously incorporated drones into its research of hurricanes and 2023 will see an even larger and more high-tech fleet.