Time-lapse video shows three hurricanes, two in Pacific and one in Atlantic the @Space_Station orbited over Aug. 30. pic.twitter.com/UEh2dYp7pt
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) August 30, 2016
Residents of Hawaii are keeping a close eye on two hurricanes in the Pacific, Madeline and Lester.
And astronauts have been watching the storms, too — from a different angle.
On Tuesday, the International Space Station caught a spectacular view of both storms, as well as a powerful hurricane in the Atlantic.
The video shows Gaston — currently a Category 3, according to the National Hurricane Center, though it was less powerful at the time the ISS recorded it — passing through the open ocean far from land.
The two storms in the Pacific are more worrying for earth-dwellers. Madeline, which at one point was a Category 4 but has weakened to a Category 1, is expected to pass just south of Hawaii's big island before dawn on Thursday, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center says.
Residents are concerned about the risk of flooding, Bill Dorman of Hawaii Public Radio tells our Newscast unit.
Hurricane Lester — which has strengthened from a Category 3 to a Category 4, the National Hurricane Center says, and is currently located more than a thousand miles east of Hawaii — might threaten the islands by this weekend, though it may have weakened to a tropical storm by then.
Also on Tuesday, NASA released an animation of satellite images showing the two storms forming and swirling in the Pacific.
Meanwhile, back in the Atlantic, another storm is brewing in the Gulf of Mexico: Tropical Depression 9, which is expected to strengthen and may threaten the Florida coast, the National Hurricane Center says.
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