Jaw-dropping videos show the monstrous inside ‘stadium effect’ of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa

Category 5 Hurricane Melissa already looks stunning from above in satellite images.

But it’s even more dramatic inside the storm’s eye.

Hurricane Hunters with both the Air Force and NOAA have been criss crossing Melissa for days, flying straight into the teeth of the monster to get crucial real-time data to know the current status of Melissa as well as feeding weather forecast models to track her next moves.

While neither of the official hurricane hunter pages are updating on social media due to the government shutdown, some photographers and staff members on board are still sending out videos from the storm, including these just…incredible ones from @FlynonymousWX on X.

The videos show off stunning examples of the “stadium effect,” which according to NOAA is: “where the wall of clouds around the eye looks like a sports stadium due to rapidly-rising air moving outward, causing the eye’s diameter to widen the farther up you go.”

And the videos are best just summed up as: OMG

A thread of videos from today’s flight into Hurricane Melissa

In this first one we are entering from the southeast just after sunrise and the bright arc on the far northwest eye wall is the light just beginning to make it over the top from behind us. pic.twitter.com/qGdpp7lbCN

— Tropical Cowboy of Danger (@FlynonymousWX) October 27, 2025

Third pass through Melissa. GoPro in side window as different camera looking forward shooting in ultra high res 8k. Not sure when that might get processed as the file turned out ridiculous. Barely had HD space for it and MacBook Pro promptly chocked when I tried to edit it pic.twitter.com/3p430gPvZv

— Tropical Cowboy of Danger (@FlynonymousWX) October 27, 2025

Second pass through Hurricane Melissa entering from the southwest side. Passed NOAA in the eye wall as they headed outbound for home.

Obviously a very powerful storm but a relatively straightforward one on this flight. Much less nasty meso activity than 36 hours ago. pic.twitter.com/uNICbQ4j9r

— Tropical Cowboy of Danger (@FlynonymousWX) October 27, 2025

Fourth pass through Melissa this morning, another side view due to my hairbrained attempt to shoot 8k video out the front. pic.twitter.com/1fH2Rm5Z8H

— Tropical Cowboy of Danger (@FlynonymousWX) October 27, 2025

Fifth and final pass through Hurricane Melissa for our crew today. Just after noon entering from the NW corner exiting SE. pic.twitter.com/BVtyIlZpsx

— Tropical Cowboy of Danger (@FlynonymousWX) October 27, 2025

The sea surface is always interesting in the eye with waves going different directions pic.twitter.com/sM2lvvUWoC

— Tropical Cowboy of Danger (@FlynonymousWX) October 27, 2025