Hurricane Milton from space: Astronaut shares timelapse of mega storm

Hurricane Milton has raised fears of massive devastation in Tampa Bay, Florida, and has again been upgraded to a Category 5 storm. It looks equally scary from space as well. NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick has captured Dragon's-eye views of Hurricane Milton as it prepares to make landfall.

He posted a timelapse video on X of Hurricane Milton taken from the window of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour. It is currently docked at the International Space Station (ISS) and had taken Dominick, along with NASA astronauts Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, and Alexander Grebenkin of Russia's space agency Roscosmos, to space in March.

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The capsule was supposed to return to Earth on Oct 7, however, the trip has been delayed because of Milton. The powerful hurricane is zooming through the Gulf of Mexico towards Florida, churning up the ocean waters where Endeavour was supposed to splash down. It will now undock from the ISS on Oct 13.

The Thursday (Oct 10) launch of the Europa Clipper mission from Florida's Kennedy Space Center has also been pushed forward because of the hurricane.

Strongest storm to hit Tampa in 100 years

Hurricane Milton has been predicted to cause unprecedented devastation in Tampa. Experts say it will be the strongest hurricane to hit the region in nearly 100 years. After being downgraded to a Category 4 storm, it was once again upgraded to a Cat 5 on Tuesday.

Also Read:Hurricane Milton, 'strongest of 2024', might have breached 'Cat 6' cutoff, expert says

It is expected to make landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast, near Tampa and St. Petersburg, late Wednesday. People in the area have been warned to evacuate and not to try to brave the storm.

Tampa Bay Mayor Jane Castor also issued a dire warning, saying, "If you choose to stay … you are going to die.”

Hurricane Milton is expected to be even more catastrophic than Helene. "I can tell you right now they might have done that in others, there’s never been one like this," Castor said. "And Helene was a wake-up call, this is literally catastrophic."

She added that she has never seen such a storm in her life and "anyone born and raised in the Tampa Bay area has never seen anything like this before".

US President Joe Biden also told people to "evacuate now, now, now."

"You should have already evacuated. It's a matter of life and death, and that's not hyperbole," he said as advisers briefed him on the storm.

Hurricane Milton has likelybreached Cat 6 cut off

Orlando meteorologist, Noah Bergen, shared on X, "I am at a loss for words to meteorlogically describe to you the storm's small eye and intensity."

"This is now the 4th strongest hurricane ever recorded by pressure on this side of the world. The eye is TINY at nearly 3.8 miles wide."

An ominous statement issued by him shows how massive the income storm is. "This hurricane is nearing the mathematical limit of what Earth's atmosphere over this ocean water can produce," he wrote.

Scientist and author Michael E. Mann says that "#Milton might have actually breached the 192 mph 'cat 6' cutoff."