Detail of NOAA Satellites GeoColor Full Disk Image on October 9, 2024 at 04:00 UTC. (Photo: NOAA/NESDIS/STAR)
Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene caused destruction in six southeastern states, a new disaster seems to be brewing. Hurricane Milton, feared to be the storm of the century, is already looming over Florida. The proportions of this storm are nothing to joke about. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have shared some unnerving images of how Hurricane Milton looks from space.
One of the most concerning images is one that wasn't sent out to capture the size of the hurricane. Aided by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), the NOAA publishes an image of the full Earth disk that is updated every few minutes. In a snapshot captured on October 8 at 02:10 UTC, Milton appears as a harrowing circular cloud over the Caribbean. Easy to spot even for the untrained eye, the storm appears even bigger than some metropolitan areas.
The images captured by GOES show another worrisome feature of the hurricane. Its “pinhole eye”—as it is only a few nautical miles in diameter—is a characteristic of rapidly intensifying hurricanes. In turn, a tightly wound center indicates the potential for extreme strength.
Meanwhile, astronaut Matthew Dominick documented the hurricane from a window above the ISS. In the frightful footage, Milton takes up a huge slice of Earth that he gets to see from up above.
“We flew over Hurricane Milton about 90 minutes ago,” Dominick wrote on Instagram. “Here is the view out the Dragon Endeavour window. Expect lots of images from this window as [this] is where I’m sleeping while we wait to undock and return to Earth.”
Similarly, a video captured by the ISS cameras sees the swirling arms of Milton bringing a cover of thick clouds over the Gulf of Mexico.
To stay up to date with the latest developments of Milton, make sure to follow NOAA ON Instagram.
The NOAA and astronauts aboard the International Space Station have shared some unnerving images of how Hurricane Milton looks from space.
NOAA Satellites GeoColor Full Disk Image on October 8, 2024 at 02:10 UTC. (Photo: NOAA/NESDIS/STAR)
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At 10:28 a.m. EDT October 7, the space station flew over Hurricane Milton and external cameras captured views of the category 5 storm, packing winds of 175 miles an hour, moving across the Gulf of Mexico toward the west coast of Florida. pic.twitter.com/MTtdUosiEc
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) October 7, 2024
WATCH: The Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University released this satellite view of Hurricane Milton. https://t.co/buTPXLJ1ix pic.twitter.com/Q3yZHLpHz0
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) October 8, 2024
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