This striking image from space captures the monstrous scale of Hurricane Irma
Irma, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes in recorded history, hit several Caribbean islands as a "potentially catastrophic" Category 5 storm on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, tropical storms Jose and Katia are also brewing nearby. Jose, the 10th tropical storm of this year's hurricane season, is expected to become a hurricane late Wednesday.
Just before noon ET Wednesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration captured a breathtaking yet horrifying photo of the three storms from space using its GOES-16 satellite:
NOAA
The storms are all traveling from east to west. You can see Tropical Storm Katia on the left near the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean, and Tropical Storm Jose over the Atlantic.
Jose is about 1,135 miles east of the Lesser Antilles, a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. It was moving west at about 17 mph as of Wednesday morning.
Katia, about 135 miles east-southeast of Tampico, Mexico, is not projected to move much in the next several days. It may bring 5 to 10 inches of rain over northern Veracruz and up to 15 inches in some areas, according to The Weather Company.
The above images show the scale of Irma, which has had sustained winds of 185 mph for over a day. In Barbuda, an island east of Puerto Rico, winds ripped off the roof of a police station, forcing officers to take shelter in a nearby fire station, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
As of Wednesday morning, the National Hurricane Center projects that the centerline of the Category 5 storm will travel up the east coast of Florida. The hurricane spans about 400 miles — big enough to affect the entire state.
Irma's exact path is still uncertain, but the latest forecasts suggest it will hit South Florida this weekend. US and state officials are declaring a state of emergency for Florida in anticipation of the storm.
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