A hurricane hunter who ventured into the eye of 386 storms made one last trip after his death.
The ashes of Peter Dodge, a former meteorologist with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), were dropped from a plane into the center of Hurricane Milton on Tuesday night.
A NOAA obituary reported last year that Dodge had passed away “peacefully,” but unexpectedly, on March 3, 2023 at the age of 73, calling it a “sudden and tragic loss.”
Dodge’s ashes were buried in his home state of Florida. state flag, were wrapped with the name tag of his flight suit and a patch denoting the scientist’s hundreds of storm missions.
The scientist’s friend and former boss, Frank Marks, did the honor of releasing the ashes and ended the tribute by recording Dodge’s final flight count at 387 Hurricanes.
Above, a photograph of Peter Dodge taken by Shirley Murillo for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) during a hurricane research flight in 2005.
According to NOAA, it took approximately eight minutes for Dodge’s ash to descend to the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.
Friends He described Dodge as a problem solver whose coding work laid the foundation for much of the radar technology used to study storms today.
Marks recalled many death-defying flights with the late meteorologist, including an engine fire while flying into Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
“Peter was unflappable,” Marks told reporters. “That’s the best I can say.”
Marks, who released the ashes during an aerial ceremony attended by a dozen people, first met Dodge during the job interview process at NOAA in the early 1980s.
Marks said scattering his ashes in Hurricane Milton was “a total honor and a great tribute to Peter and everything he has done for us.”
“Releasing their ashes in Hurricane Milton,” as Hurricane Research Division Deputy Director Shirley Murillo said. the new york times‘we seek to honor his memory and his spirit of teamwork, adventure and curiosity.’
Dodge’s bravery in the face of the physical risks required to collect the data needed to improve hurricane tracking and modeling earned him some of the highest honors the United States government can bestow on a civilian.
Throughout his career, in which he frequently served as a radar scientist aboard NOAA aircraft, Dodge received a Department of Commerce Bronze Medal, two NOAA Administrator Awards, and the Patriotic Civil Service Award. of the Army Corps of Engineers.
“Peter truly had an unwavering passion for participating in field activities, including flying,” Murillo said, “and an insatiable curiosity for research.”
In his final years at NOAA, after Dodge began to lose his sight and could no longer fly hurricane missions, he continued to refine radar programs for the agency, coding with the help of a Braille keyboard.
Above, a NOAA satellite image of Hurricane Milton taken at 3:51 a.m. ET on Wednesday, just hours after Dodge’s ashes were scattered in the storm at 11 p.m. ET
Hurricane hunters on a mission into Hurricane Milton on Tuesday night (above) honored their longtime meteorologist colleague at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Peter Dodge, 73, releasing his ashes into the eye of the storm at 11 p.m.
Dodge Floridians woke up to devastation Thursday after Hurricane Milton slammed into the state’s Gulf Coast near Sarasota, south of Tampa Bay, leaving multiple people dead and 3 million without power.
The powerful storm was downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall, but was powerful enough to clear the entire Florida peninsula while still being classified as a Category 1 hurricane.
The storm, which was upgraded from a tropical storm to a hurricane of historic severity, dropped a series of tornadoes in its path, killing at least four people in St. Lucie County, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Extreme storms like Milton may seem unprecedented, but as we enter a new climate reality, it may be time to “let go of that term,” as historical geographer and hurricane hazard expert told DailyMail.com Craig Colten.
“With a warmer climate, a storm like Helene or Milton is the new precedent,” he said.
Until the time of his death last year, Dodge worked tirelessly to better understand, track and predict how hurricanes behave and evolve.
The NOAA researcher contributed code, even as his vision deteriorated over time, to flight modules for hurricane landing experiments and coordinated with research teams to collect data from mobile weather platforms.
“He loved what he did,” Marks said. washington mail. “I don’t think I could think of anything else.”
Florida residents seeking assistance are urged to call the State Assistance Information Line (SAIL) at 1-800-342-3557 and/or the FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-3362.
