Hurricane Lane Looks Absolutely Massive From Space

Updated: August 22, 2018 11:48 AM [ET] | Originally published: August 22, 2018 11:06 AM EDT;

As Hurricane Lane hurtles toward Hawaii, images captured from space show the full extent of the massive storm.

Images captured by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show the Category 4 storm swirling towards Hawaii with sustained winds around 155 mph that could cause catastrophic damage. Hurricane Lane was briefly upgraded to a Category 5 storm Tuesday night into Wednesday morning when winds topped 160 mph — just hours before its expected landfall in Hawaii.

Max sustained winds in #HurricaneLane have increased to 160 MPH, making this a very dangerous Category 5 hurricane. Storm motion has begun to take more of a northerly component as it continues to approach #Hawaii. #HIwx (@NOAA GOES-West imagery) pic.twitter.com/Prh8s3yUfu
— NASA SPoRT (@NASA_SPoRT) August 22, 2018

Close-up view of Major #HurricaneLane's eye - impressive even at GOES-15's 1-km resolution. pic.twitter.com/lIpaeSmu9j
— NASA SPoRT (@NASA_SPoRT) August 21, 2018

Here's a view of #HurricaneLane late yesterday, August 21, 2018, courtesy of the Japanese #Himawari-8 satellite. (The view is rotated: the North is to the left and East is up.) For updates on this Cat. 5 #hurricane: https://t.co/h7Hm7qiq2J pic.twitter.com/Hw2d0sbo1P
— NOAA Satellites - Public Affairs (@NOAASatellitePA) August 22, 2018

NOAA's WP-3D Orion, #Kermit, encountered a phenomenon known as "stadium effect" inside the eye of #HurricaneLane. Check out these photos taken by the crew.

Continue to check https://t.co/MlZk25kG0d for information regarding tropical systems.

Video: Richard Henning, NOAA pic.twitter.com/qeVHb9a9SU
— NOAA Aircraft Operations Center (@NOAA_HurrHunter) August 22, 2018

#HurricaneLane in the early morning hours near #Hawaii. The crew of the @Space_Station sends much aloha to everyone there. pic.twitter.com/raPh37MZH9
— Ricky Arnold (@astro_ricky) August 22, 2018

Hawaii Gov. David Ige issued an emergency proclamation and urged residents to heed evacuation notices and make emergency preparations ahead of Hurricane Lane’s landfall.

As of late Tuesday night, tropical-storm-force winds were expected to reach some of the Hawaiian islands by Wednesday afternoon local time, according to the National Weather Service’s (NWS) Honolulu bureau. Winds are likely to persist until at least Thursday night or Friday morning, according to the NWS.

Here's the 11pm update for #Lane. No changes to current watches or warnings at this time (Hurricane Warning Hawaii Co, Hurricane Watch Maui and Honolulu Co). Monitor https://t.co/fUefWa9aTA for updates and more information regarding the forecast for your location. #hiwx pic.twitter.com/gY1jFQs8xo
— NWSHonolulu (@NWSHonolulu) August 22, 2018

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