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Hebe Campbell | Wednesday 29 October 2025 13:16 GMT

A viral video claiming to show the eye of Hurricane Melissa has taken the internet by storm, amassing millions of views online — but it’s completely fake.

Real hurricanes can reach heights of up to 55,000 feet, far higher than the 43,000-foot ceiling of commercial jets, meaning the AI-generated clip could never have been filmed from a passenger plane. Only specialised NOAA research aircraft can safely approach such storms.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed the video is fake — and shared authentic footage from their hurricane-hunting planes showing what the real eye of Hurricane Melissa looks like.