Hurricane Irene: NASA Captures Footage Of Storm Plowing Through Caribbean (VIDEO/PHOTO)

Not a bad view.

NASA has released incredible images and video of Hurricane Irene traveling through the Caribbean, where it drew in strong winds and torrential downpoors over the weekend en route to the U.S.

"We want to make sure Floridians are paying attention," Bryan Koon, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, told the Associated Press. "We are at the height of the hurricane season right now. If it's not Hurricane Irene, it could be the follow-up storm that impacts us."

Irene strengthened to a Category 2 storm on Monday and forecasters predict that it could reach Category 4 in the U.S.

At the start of 2011's hurricane season, U.S. government forecasters predicted that three to six major storms would strike the Atlantic coast.

This photo, shot by astronaut Ron Garan from the International Space Station, shows Irene on Monday also passing through the Caribbean. [Scroll down for video.]

LOOK:

Here is video footage captured by the GOES-13 satellite showing the storm Aug. 19 through Aug. 22 developing and moving across the Caribbean.

WATCH:

Comments

[Sonia Clauzel]

07:16 AM on 08/27/2011

I- Reign! :(

[Christinaa]

08:59 AM on 08/25/2011

Amazing footage. Looks like one hell of a storm!

[WoodyCPM]

08:35 AM on 08/25/2011

The photo would have sufficed. The video is just the same photo for 2:40 minutes.

[dave elliott]

07:50 AM on 08/25/2011

Come on Irene,
I swear your're just mean, At this moment, you're a hurricane,
With you in that pic, my thoughts make me sick, of your power.
Ah come on Irene..................don't say none of you thought about Dexys midnight runners "come on eileen".

[ThePeoriaKid]

12:03 AM on 08/25/2011

Amazing, no matter how many hurricanes you see, simply amazing...

[rmurrayatlanta]

11:20 PM on 08/24/2011

Everyone should prey tonight for the poor people about to be effected by this act of nature.

[WoodyCPM]

08:32 AM on 08/25/2011

You mean "pray" right? Not "prey"....unless of course you're looking forward to looting what's left!

[SmartladyDem]

08:03 PM on 08/24/2011

No eye?

[jtsmadnow]

05:57 PM on 08/27/2011

large storm but weak . compared to tx and la storms . 6 to 8' storm surge ? give me a break . heel our surges covered all peirs and sea walls and moved inland many miles .

[mszags]

07:48 PM on 08/24/2011

Is it just me or all reporters and journalists turning into reality tv drama queens??????

[WoodyCPM]

08:33 AM on 08/25/2011

Hello! Gotta sell soap somehow.

[jtsmadnow]

05:57 PM on 08/27/2011

bingo mszags

[ddstan1120]

06:56 PM on 08/24/2011

If you think things are bad for the poor folks in N.C and Va, well, things just got worse for them.
The government has just announced that they are sending FEMA in.
Pray for them.

[ginocat55]

06:52 PM on 08/24/2011

Me and Al Gore and Michael Moore are going shopping for "smart" cars, after all this is a result of global whining....I mean warming

[Mauitunes]

06:13 PM on 08/24/2011

According to a fill-in meterologist for Bob Van Dillen on HLN, Hurricane Irene's computer model track shows it skirting just offshore all the way up the Atlantic coast as a Category 2 hurricane and maintaining that strength until it reaches just about New York City, where it will turn inland as still a Category 2 hurricane. Then it will stay on a north-northeasterly course, passing over roughly Hartford, then Worcester still as a strong Category 1 or still a Category 2 hurricane, and then directly over southern New Hampshire's tri-city area (Nashua-Manchester-Concord, and I'm absolutely NOT kidding). That means everybody in the central New England area had better brace themselves. Most of the time, the computer models are completely accurate, so friends and family in the Manchester area, please watch WMUR-TV 9 for the latest on Irene!

[wmholt]

01:34 AM on 08/25/2011

"Most of the time, the computer models are completely accurate,"

Then why do they show about 10 computer models at a time, all with different storm tracks predicted? I'd watch the Weather Channel, not HLN for weather info.

[aeph1026]

03:52 PM on 08/24/2011

Nice eye wall starting to form - way to go to equal some of the big boys. Lived through bigger - before the lamp-post hugging 24/7 tv "news" people took over.

You just get supplies together - head for higher ground - or tie down anything loose if you are on a high spot and are not being evacuated - and ride it out. Storms have been around for years. They will continue to come around - just learn how to deal with them - and that does not mean sitting on a balcony overlooking the ocean when a Cat 5 is coming right at you or surfing near the pier when the waves are 25 feet tall. Be sensible, and be safe.

[Just Don]

03:18 PM on 08/24/2011

That storm is definitely plowing through the Caribbean and those are definitely NASA pictures. But that's not footage of a storm plowing through the Caribbean. That's footage of the ISS passing over the storm. The headline is misleading and the pictures are lame. But even lame pictures in space fascinate me, so keep'em coming. Just get real on the headlines.

[WoodyCPM]

08:37 AM on 08/25/2011

I thought the video was the picture for 2:40 minutes. The headline is just more hype from HP.

[Mike D Hylton]

03:08 PM on 08/24/2011

As with every other weather forecast ,the experts can tell you for certain only 2 things,, what it is presently doing and what it did, the what it is going to do is still nothing but a possibility in any weather forecast they give,

[linthw05]

04:22 PM on 08/24/2011

Wow John Madden, good job breaking down the situation for us.

[Gwbsucks1]

02:58 PM on 08/24/2011

We want to make sure Floridians are paying attention----------------------------------------if that thing was comin at me , i know it would have nothin but my attention