While residents of North and South Carolina were retreating nervously before Bonnie's advance last week, NASA pilot Ken Broda was heading resolutely in the opposite direction. Guiding a converted U-2 spy plane to altitudes higher than hurricane-observation aircraft usually go, Broda was determined to get a look at what was happening at the storm's very crown.
What he saw was an utter surprise: perched at 55,000 ft. and a full 70 miles away from Bonnie's central eye sat a large domed cloud that Broda likened to a "mini-hurricane" swirling up from the top of the storm. In most hurricanes, wind is...
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