Robbie Hood 1955-
Hurricane Hunter
Robbie Hood is a hurricane hunter in Huntsville, Alabama. A hurricane is a severe tropical storm with heavy winds and rain. Hood works for NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Part of Hood's job for NASA is flying into hurricanes to study them from the inside.
Hood uses her laptop computer and equipment on the outside of her special airplane to examine these violent storms. The information she collects makes it easier to predict which way the storms will travel and how severe their damage will be.
Hood grew up on a farm, where she saw the effects storms had on plants and animals. She got a degree in physical meteorology, or the study of weather, at Florida State University. She says that she likes studying hurricanes because they remind her of people. Like people, hurricanes have names and can behave in unexpected ways, says Hood.
Critical Thinking
What do you think Hood means when she says that hurricanes act like people?