Monstrous Hurricane Matthew seen swirling below the space station
Category 4 storm Hurricane Matthew casts its hulking form across the Earth in a dramatic video from the International Space Station.
Hurricane Matthew, currently a massive Category 4 storm in the Caribbean Sea, made landfall in Haiti on Tuesday. The National Hurricane Center calls it "extremely dangerous" with maximum sustained winds near 145 mph (230 kmh). It's frightening from the viewpoint of Earth's surface, but it's also fascinating when seen from far above on board the International Space Station.
The ISS shared a video on Monday showing the orbital perspective on Hurricane Matthew. The footage comes from 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the storm. It shows a wide, round swath of clouds blotting out the blue of the sea.
The eye of the storm appears as a dark round hole at the center of the swirling cloud formations. It looks almost unreal, like a special-effects shot for a movie. Parts of the space station appear in the frame to give a little perspective on the view.
In August, the ISS posted impressive footage of three different hurricanes, which were all active at the same time. Matthew is shaping up to be a more severe storm than any of those three.
