A strange mass at the center of raging Hurricane Helene that was caught on radar baffled more than 1.4 million viewers.
Colin McCarthy’s X Post revealed that the radar anomaly was actually a group of birds caught in the eye of the hurricane over Tallahassee, Florida.
Many commenters were skeptical about whether radar could actually detect birds, but experts weighed in to get to the bottom of what this image shows.
One user critically commented: “That’s not what it is.”
Meteorologist Rob Carlmark said 9NEWS: ‘Birds can appear on the radar. In fact, when birds sleep at night and fly out in the morning, it is common to see them appear.’
Radar detects a blue spot in the eye of Hurricane Helene
Flocks of birds and other creatures can get caught in the eye of hurricanes
Ben Dery, another meteorologist, also chimed in to provide more details. He said radars can detect many things in the atmosphere, including insects, temperature changes, density changes and, of course, birds.
During hurricanes in Florida, it is common for certain birds to get caught in the middle, which can be very dangerous for them.
Some species fly around the storm, while others can use its force as momentum.
Hurricane Helene destroys a house in Tallahassee
‘However, many other birds will be caught in the storm. “Radar images often show birds in the eye of hurricanes, unable to escape through the eyewall,” Florida explained.
One X user wrote: ‘That’s crazy! It’s amazing how nature works. I hope they find their way to a safe place.
Hurricane Helene, now a tropical storm, has left at least 55 dead in five states since it was spotted off the Mexican coast just a few hundred miles from Florida on Wednesday.
The storm is hovering primarily over Tennessee and Kentucky.
However, according to the National Hurricane Center, areas of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia are also being hit by the storm.
“The amount of damage will be tremendous,” Professor Pam Knox of the University of Georgia told DailyMail.com on Wednesday.
An aerial view of a Florida home destroyed by the raging hurricane
Damage to the Nolichucky Dam in East Tennessee has been a cause of great concern because it cannot withstand the extreme amounts of incoming flooding.
Approximately 5,800 residents and two schools were immediately affected by flooding from the dam.
Cedar Key, Florida, was completely decimated by Friday’s storm.
Michael Bobbitt, 48, a resident who stayed behind, said The New York Times about their experiences.
Hurricane Helene destroyed Horseshoe Beach in Florida
He said: ‘We feel pretty beat up here in Cedar Key. When we were fighting this at night, as bad as we thought it would be, it’s much worse in daylight.
‘Cedar Key as we know it has completely disappeared.
‘Entire houses have been collected and evacuated. We had to wade through four feet of water to get to them. The post office is destroyed.’
