Evacuations and preparations are underway on the ground as highly dangerous Hurricane Milton nears Florida's west coast. Astronauts up in orbit on the International Space Station have a unique view of the storm from above. The images from space highlight Milton's size and intensity.
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NASA astronaut Dominick Milton photographed Hurricane Milton from a Dragon capsule docked on the ISS. This is the full image.
NASA/Matthew DominickNASA astronaut Matthew Dominick tweeted a photo on Tuesday of Milton as seen through a window on the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft that's docked to the station. The image shows the blue curve of Earth and the round, cloudy swirl of the hurricane stretching across the view.
Read more: How to Keep Your Home Safe During Hurricanes and Storms
Dominick is a member of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission to the ISS. His scheduled return to Earth along with his crewmates has been delayed due to potential impacts from Milton.
Dominick's photo gives an astronaut's perspective on the hurricane with the framing of the spacecraft window. Cameras mounted on the station have also been monitoring the storm. NASA shared a video of the hurricane as seen on Oct. 8. The ISS makes 16 orbits around Earth each day, so there are multiple opportunities to observe weather events below.
Milton peaked at Category 5 strength on Monday with sustained winds of 180 mph. This category is the highest on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, which estimates the potential for property damage. Category 5 is for hurricanes with sustained wind speeds of 157 mph or higher. Milton has since been downgraded to a Category 4 with sustained winds of 155 mph, but its intensity could fluctuate as it continues on its path to landfall somewhere near Tampa.
It's not known yet how powerful Milton will be when it reaches the Florida coast. Even if it weakens, Milton is expected to cause a massive storm surge, flooding, power outages and property destruction.
"Milton is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane when it reaches Florida Wednesday night," the National Weather Service said on X on Tuesday. "This is a very serious threat and residents in Florida are urged to listen to local officials." Here are tips on keeping your home safe during a hurricane.
Milton is one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record. It comes on the heels of Hurricane Helene, which devastated communities along the coast as well as inland. NASA astronauts will track the storm from orbit as satellites work to feed data to forecasters on the ground. There are still some uncertainties with Milton's path and strength, but there's no way around it; it's going to be a rough one.