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.