Stunning astronaut photos show multiple hurricanes swirling in the Atlantic
Hurricane Florence isn't the only storm churning in the Atlantic Ocean.
At the moment, Florence, Hurricane Isaac, and Hurricane Helene are all swirling in different parts of the ocean at the peak of hurricane season.
NASA astronaut and current International Space Station resident Ricky Arnold was able to capture the sheer breadth of Hurricane Florence, while showcasing Isaac and an outer band of Helene in new photos posted on Twitter Monday.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Florence, the most intense of the three has reached Category 4 status and will likely continue to strengthen as it moves over the warm waters heading for landfall on the East Coast later this week.
The hurricane is expected to reach the coast of North Carolina Thursday night into Friday morning. Multiple states have already declared a state of emergency in preparation for the damaging flooding that Florence is likely to bring.
"Meteorologists don’t see any environmental factors that would help to weaken the storm," Weather Channel meteorologist Dale Eck said in an interview today.
Since the hurricane has already amassed wind speeds of 130 mph, the coast could see life-threatening wind, rain, and storm surges.
Isaac, a weakening Category 1 hurricane, is much farther south, and is facing the same winds that threatened to rip Hurricane Florence apart.
Isaac is expected to reach landfall in the Caribbean later this week.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA} predicts Isaac to be "at or near hurricane intensity" when it reaches land.
Helene is a Category 2 storm that's even farther off the coast than both of the other storms, but it's not expected to ever make landfall.
It's outer band can be seen at the top of the above photo in the red box.
This week is the expected peak of hurricane season, according to forecasters, so seeing these active storms churning through the Atlantic right now isn't fully unexpected.
We'll just have to wait and see where all of them go.
