This is the moment that Hurricane Hunters captured incredible images of the eye of the storm after flying into Hurricane Lowell.

The snaps were taken as the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) team gathered high altitude data at 45,000ft of the weather event which has been battering western Hawaii with strong winds and torrential rain.

The organisation’s ‘hurricane hunters’ are specialist teams from NOAA and the US Air Force reserve that fly specially instrumented planes into tropical cyclones to collect this information for forecasters and researchers.

This helps NOAA’s meteorological stations to make accurate predictions of conditions during a hurricane.

At least one person has died as a result of the storm so far, which brought winds of up to 80mph to the island of Kauai — home to 73,000 people.

Lowell also downed trees, ripped up beachside roads and caused power outages on the island, while the nearby island of Oahu was also gripped by the storm, leaving 30,000 of its residents without power.

Hawaii governor Josh Green confirmed on X they were dealing with a ‘category 2 hurricane’ and warned his followers of ‘dangerous winds and flash flooding’.

Meanwhile, the Hawaii Emergency Management agency warned ahead of the storm that some islands could expect heavy rain, flash floods, landslides and extreme surf.

The hurricane has since moved away from the islands, although storm-force winds have continued around Kauai, measuring around 50mph at the island’s Lihue airport.

Emergency officials on the island asked locals to stay off the roads while the damage was assessed.

Elton Ushio of the local emergency management agency said in a statement: ‘As the light comes up and the extent of the damage from Hurricane Lowell comes into focus, we want to ensure that no additional emergency situations arise unnecessarily.’

Locals have said the clean-up operation could take weeks.

While the US deals with hurricane season, the UK is bracing itself for the possibility of more extreme weather conditions following the record-breaking hot summer — this time on account of a supersized El Nino.

El Nino happens every three to seven years when worldwide temperatures are pushed up by the weather system, which causes ocean winds to shift.

It could ramp up sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific by 0.5°C above the long-term average, which in turn could cause a knock-on effect on global rainfall and average temperatures.

The natural warming of sea temperatures is forecast to reach more than 3°C in the coming months, making this year’s weather front ‘the largest since the 19th century,’ according to the Met Office forecasters.

All of which raises the risk of drought in the tropics, southern Africa and north-east Australia — and could also affect the weather in the UK over the coming months, potentially leading to a wet and stormy autumn after such a scorching summer.

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