Eye of the Storm

The eye of Hurricane Dennis is now visible on Eglin Air Force Base's Doppler radar.

That's the long range (@250 mile) view. You'll see it in the short range (125 mile, higher resolution) soon.

Some (admittedly simplified) things to note: What you see on a Doppler radar view is areas where rain is falling, and the color code roughly indicates intensity of fall - yellow/orange is normally the highest you'll see in a hurricane. The red areas in the eyewall are a good indicator that this is a strong storm. Likewise the full circle of radar returns around the eye (a closed eyewall) is another indicator of strength. Most weaker tropical storms don't have the full eyewall.

Those distinct, arc-shaped green and yellow areas further from the center (and currently passing over the coastal regions) are called spiral bands and are a likely place for tornado formation.

Interesting day for the many gulf coast communities and military installations. Been there, done that, as they say. If you're in the gulf coast area you might want to visit the National Hurricane Center's web site frequently today.

In response to a comment below: Every base has a hurricane plan. Without getting too much into the weeds: Aircraft bug out early to inland locales. Generally non-essential personnel will be released to evac - or possibly ordered to do so. Some will be sheltered on base. Meanwhile, rideout and recovery teams are in motion. The rideout team stays on base, recovery teams move inland a ways to return after the worst of the storm - usually before roads are re-opened to civilian traffic. Yes - security is maintained throughout.

As storms threaten, the base commander will declare a hurricane condition (Hurcon) level, and aspects of the plan are executed depending on that.

I was part of the rideout team "back in the day" and got to experience several of these bad boys.

(Previous coverage of Dennis at Gitmo here)