It’s the most powerful storm to ever hit the Bahamas, and now it seems that Hurricane Dorian is so huge that it can even be seen from space.
Luca Parmitano, an ESA astronaut who is currently on the International Space Station (ISS) has snapped several photos of the category five hurricane.
He tweeted the first photo on August 31, writing: “Staring into the eye of the storm.”
Last night he then tweeted a series of follow-up photos, along with the caption: “Zoom into tropical storm Dorian.”
The ISS orbits our planet at an altitude of around 400km, meaning astronauts on board are treated to a unique view of our planet, and often see unusual weather events from above.
NASA has also been monitoring the hurricane, using its Suomi NPP satellite.
NASA explained: “NOAA-NASA's Suomi NPP satellite uses its complement of instruments onboard to dissect storms and provide information on many different aspects of the hurricane including storm strength, cloudtop temperature, circulation, and rainfall, among others, within the structure of the storm.”
Hurricane Dorian is the second-strongest Atlantic hurricane on record, packing huge wind speeds of up to 165mph.
The storm is currently moving very slowly through Grand Habama, having made landfall earlier on the Abaco islands.
Worryingly, it remains unclear on the number of casualties, but the Red Cross indicates that around 13,000 homes have either been damaged or destroyed.
Dr Mohammad Heidarzadeh, a coastal engineering expert at Brunel University, said: "Dorian is a very special Hurricane in many ways. This is the fourth year running that we have Category-5 hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean.
"With maximum wind speed of ~300 km/h, Dorian is one of the strongest hurricanes ever formed outside of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Dorian is also one of the very rare (possibly the only) Category-5 hurricanes to hit Bahamas.
"It is not certain where exactly Dorian will head in the next days because hurricane routes are affected as they interact with land-forms, mountains and high-rise buildings. But based on past data, it is likely to hit the coasts of Florida in about 20-24 hours. The storm surge height is predicted to be 8-10 meters which implies severe flooding in coastal areas.
"It is very important to evacuate coastal areas and stay at least 5 km inland during the Dorian’s action."
