According to Gerst’s tweet, the station was 400 km above Florence at the time. That’s about 248.5 miles, or over a million feet. At that distance, the ISS astronaut still needed a super wide-angle lens in order to get the entirety of the swirling mass into the frame. And the resulting images are astounding.
Watch out, America! #HurricaneFlorence is so enormous, we could only capture her with a super wide-angle lens from the @Space_Station, 400 km directly above the eye. Get prepared on the East Coast, this is a no-kidding nightmare coming for you. #Horizons pic.twitter.com/ovZozsncfh — Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) September 12, 2018
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service also weighed in on the storm via Twitter early Wednesday morning. The organization posted a time-lapse GIF of the sunrise over the storm and eastern coast of North America.
#HurricaneFlorence is very large and incredibly dangerous. ✅Follow local evacuation orders! ✅Prepare for life-threatening, catastrophic flooding over portions of the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic states late this week into early next week. pic.twitter.com/IWlJYKOZBS — NWS (@NWS) September 12, 2018