Hurricane Milton seen from space as monster storm barrels towards Florida coast

As Hurricane Milton is set make landfall early Wednesday evening on Florida's west coast NASA is sharing stunning images of the massive storm as seen from space.

NASA Astronaut Matthew Dominick, who is aboard the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft attached to the International Space Station shared timelapse videos of the now Category 3 storm. Dominick, who is a flight engineer aboard the orbiting laboratory, shared in a social media post that he a perfect view of the storm from the window of his sleeping quarters.

The storm has fluctuated between a Category 4 and 5 weakening a bit after coming into contact with Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, and the most recent forecasts have the storm making landfall near Tampa, Florida as a Category 3.

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Some roadways in southwestern Florida are already experiencing flooding and officials warn that is may be too late to evacuate and those who remain in the area should shelter in place.

Dominick noted in his social media post that the storm looked even bigger than it had the previous day as it approached Florida's west coast.

Dominick's return trip to earth has been delayed due to the massive storm, along with three other astronauts. The four were supposed to return to earth on Monday after a seven-month stay on the ISS.

ISS external cameras situated roughly 257 miles above the planet captured images of the storm showing the eye of the storm which is significantly smaller than the eye of most major storms, only measuring 4 miles in diameter.

NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas shared additional photos to their social media showing the massive storm moving across the Gulf of Mexico.

The National Weather Service in Tampa Bay has said this will be the most devastating storm to hit the Tampa area in more than a century saying. Other predictions have the storm making landfall closer to the Sarasota.

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Based on forecasts Milton will weaken as it makes it's way across the entirety of Florida but will maintain it's hurricane status despite being cut off from warm waters of the gulf. It will exit into the Atlantic Ocean sometime on Thursday before weakening into a tropical storm.

Officials were still racing to remove debris caused by Hurricane Helene on Wednesday as that can bring additional hazards, with strong winds and storm surge having the potential to pick up that debris.

Seven tornadoes have hit Florida in advance of Hurricane Milton, the National Weather Service in Miami said Wednesday.

Hurricanes and tropical storms have the ability to produce tornadoes. The National Weather Service said there had been 53 tornado warning issued by 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 41 of which were issued by the weather service in Miami.

The weather service said via X that it had “received reports of structures damaged in Lakeport” Wednesday as the “most recent tornado-warned storm moved through the area.” The service said it was the second tornado to impact Lakeport, an unincorporated community about two hours from Miami, on Wednesday.