Photo Of Hurricane Milton From The International Space Station Shows Just How Enormous This Storm Is

As North Carolina continues to reel from Hurricane Helene, another is nearing landfall in Florida. The destruction in western North Carolina is truly hard to grasp, especially for someone (like me) who is geographically removed from the region. The death toll is sitting at 227 with more tragedies expected to be discovered and a near incalculable amount of damage done to entire towns, roads, houses, cars, and every single aspect of those peoples' lives. https://twitter.com/KristyTallman/status/1840621483682677234 Many country music stars, such as Luke Combs and Eric Church, Charles Wesley Godwin, and Sturgill Simpson, are raising money through music to support the rescue and recovery efforts while local residents take it upon themselves to help their neighbors. Unfortunately, it looks like this may not be the only major hurricane to hit the country this year. As I'm writing this, Hurricane Milton is centered 520 miles southwest of Tampa, where it's expected to make landfall, becoming the first major hurricane in over 100 years to make direct contact with the Tampa Bay region. Evacuations are underway and people are boarding up their houses as we speak. I used to live in Tampa and can say first hand that those people do not leave when a hurricane is coming, even if it's projected to hit the city, so the fact that they're taking this one seriously shows the severity of storm that's expected. The expected power of this storm is hard to wrap your head around. It's already reached Category 5 status with winds speeds nearing 180 mph and is closing in on reaching it's Maximum Potential Intensity, the theoretical limit a given storm can reach. https://twitter.com/TPV_John/status/1843450749004517735 Maybe even crazier is the fact that meteorologists expect the storm to grow before making landfall, meaning even if it weakens the scope of destruction will be greater. I think the best way to see the sheer enormity of this storm is to look at a picture taken on the International Space Station earlier today. The fact that Milton appears this large from 254 miles above Earth's surface is astounding. Astronaut Matthew Dominick shared the following caption with his photo: "We flew over Hurricane Milton about 90 minutes ago. 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." https://twitter.com/dominickmatthew/status/1843671971566940197 He then posted a timelapse of their flight over the storm, which is equal parts incredibly visually pleasing and emotionally nerve-wracking. https://twitter.com/dominickmatthew/status/1843679036792549688 The storm takes up nearly the entire window... I'm sending thoughts and prayers to everyone down Florida, especially my friends in Tampa. If you can, get out, and if you can't please take every imaginable preparation. Stay safe and look out for your neighbors.