Storm Floris is battering the UK with winds reaching 145 km/h (90 mph), triggering a yellow weather warning for millions in northern regions. Authorities warn that an amber alert may soon follow, as conditions intensify.
Meteorologists point to Storm Floris as yet another sign of increasingly powerful and destructive natural phenomena worldwide. But even the most ferocious of storms have a soft spot, a region in the center of all that swirling cloud that remains calm and clear and free of the most severe weather. This is the eye of the storm, a phenomenon that still baffles scientists and has yet to be fully explained. But how does an eye occur, and why are some people prepared to fly an aircraft through the most extreme of weather conditions to reach it?
For an explanation, click through this gallery for some eye-popping facts.