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Hurricanes, cyclones, and storm-force gales number some of the most frightening and destructive natural phenomena Mother Nature can throw at us. It's bad enough being at sea or on the ground when one of these monsters barrels in, but you have no idea of the size of what's coming your way until you see it from above.
Click through the gallery and take a look at some of the most infamous storms of recent times photographed from the relative safety of space.
Hurricane Milton was a powerful Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that struck in October 2024, causing extensive damage across Florida. The storm rapidly intensified over the Gulf of Mexico, reaching peak winds of 180 mph (approximately 290 km/h) before making landfall near Siesta Key as a Category 3 hurricane on October 9.
Hurricane Isabel was a Category 5 hurricane that struck the United States in September 2003. It formed in the Atlantic Ocean and reached peak winds of 165 mph (approximately 266 km/h). Isabel made landfall in North Carolina on September 18 as a Category 2 storm, bringing strong winds, heavy rainfall, and storm surges that caused widespread flooding.
Hurricane Rita is the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico. It reached Category 5 status on September 21, 2005.
A truly frightening image of thunderstorm activity seen at night in the eyewall of Tropical Cyclone Bansi as the storm headed east over Madagascar in January 2015.
A low-pressure weather system builds up over the Middle East on March 26, 2003. Dust is visible blowing up from the desert and moving to the southeast.
Tropical Storm Franklin, an example of a strongly sheared tropical cyclone in the North Atlantic hurricane basin, approaching the Bahamas in 2005.
A series of mature thunderstorms hang heavy over the Paraná River in southern Brazil.
The January 2018 North American blizzard was a powerful snowstorm that caused severe disruption along the east coast of the United States and Canada. The powerful nor'easter battered coastal areas with heavy snow and strong winds, from Florida to Maine.
A powerful extratropical cyclone closing in on the south of Australia on December 28, 2016. Extratropical cyclones spin clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, just like tropical cyclones.
Hurricane Mitch remains the second-deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record, causing over 11,000 fatalities in Central America in October, 1998. A Category 5 hurricane, it's pictured at peak intensity on October 26.
In January 2005, a weather system that brought snow and ice to the American Midwest also kicked up a dust storm across western Texas and eastern Mexico. The winds associated with this cold front also fanned the flames of grass fires in the region.
A December 2009 polar low over the Sea of Japan brought gale-force winds and heavy snowfall to Hokkaido and Sakhalin.
The Icelandic Low is a semi-permanent center of low atmospheric pressure found between Iceland and southern Greenland. It's often photographed as a beautifully-formed swirling weather system.
Storm Gloria over the western Mediterranean Sea on January 21, 2020. Stalling for several days over the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands, Gloria caused widespread damage across these areas.
Hurricane Isabel, one of the strongest, deadliest, and costliest storms of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season.
Hurricane Jova was a strong Pacific hurricane that made landfall over Jalisco, Mexico, on October 12, 2011. The southern tip of Baja California is visible at the top of the image.
Peaking at Category 4, Hurricane Floyd is seen in September 1999 moving west in the Atlantic Ocean, northeast of the Lesser Antilles towards the Bahamas and the east coast of the United States.
In 2008, Gustav caused serious damage and casualties in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, and the United States. It's pictured making landfall in Haiti on August 26.
Tropical Storm Bonnie over the Gulf of Mexico, pictured on August 11, 2004, about 370.149 km (230 miles) above Earth.
Two tropical cyclones swirl across the ocean during the 2019 Pacific typhoon season.
Another example of a powerful typhoon-force extratropical cyclone, this one pictured east of the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East on October 24, 2017.
Typhoon Lan at peak intensity on October 21, 2017, located to the southeast of Japan's Ryukyu Islands.
A pyrocumulonimbus is a type of cumulonimbus cloud that forms above a source of heat, such as a wildfire or volcanic eruption.
On January 14, 2016, a tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic evolved into hurricane Alex, becoming the earliest hurricane in the basin since 1938. Pictured: Hurricane Alex at peak intensity south of the Azores, Portugal.
See also: The science behind the eye of a storm
Satellite images reveal extreme weather from space
Looking over hurricanes, cyclones, and storm-force gales
LIFESTYLE Space
Hurricanes, cyclones, and storm-force gales number some of the most frightening and destructive natural phenomena Mother Nature can throw at us. It's bad enough being at sea or on the ground when one of these monsters barrels in, but you have no idea of the size of what's coming your way until you see it from above.
Click through the gallery and take a look at some of the most infamous storms of recent times photographed from the relative safety of space.