Microsoft Flight Simulator let people fly into Hurricane Laura

What you need to know

• People are flying in and around Hurricane Laura within Microsoft Flight Simulator.
• Microsoft Flight Simulator has real-time weather updates.
• Many people have shared screenshots and videos of the storm within the game.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is loved for its realism, but recent meteorological events have shed some light on a feature some haven't focused on, real-time weather updates. Microsoft worked with Meteoblue to map real-world weather into Microsoft Flight Simulator. Now, people are taking advantage of this feature to fly into, around, and above recreations of Hurricane Laura.

Mathias Müller, Meteoblue's co-founder, discussed recreating Hurricane Laura in a statement to The Verge:

Many people have shared screenshots and videos of themselves virtually flying in and around Hurrican Laura. The images and videos show off the game's hyper-realistic modeling, which utilizes Microsoft's Azure.

Hurricane Laura is a powerful storm that became a Category 4 hurricane before making landfall. At points, its winds reached 150mph. It has since weakened to a Category 1 hurricane. Seeing the storm recreated within Microsoft Flight Simulator gives people a unique perspective of the storm and gives some of a gauge of its size.