Category 4 Storm Slammed The Florida Panhandle Wednesday
The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron started flying into Hurricane Michael Oct. 7 and over the next four days observed it intensify from a possible tropical depression to a Category 4 storm, which made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida, at 12:30 p.m. Oct. 10. “This storm started out as a low level investigation with the possibility of it reaching tropical storm status by the end of the first flight,” said Col. Robert J. Stanton, 403rd Wing vice commander and navigator who was on the mission.