An eerie satellite image of Hurricane Milton shows the storm taking the shape of a skull before making landfall in Florida on Wednesday.
Stu Ostro, a senior meteorologist at the Weather Channel, shared the eerie photo on X and showed it next to a similar image from Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
“The original skull face with #Matthew in 2016, and #Milton tonight. Both are ‘M’ storms. Interesting that intense hurricanes can be conducive to getting that structure,” he wrote.
Both 2016’s Hurricane Matthew (left) and Hurricane Milton (right) took the shape of a creepy skull before making landfall
Another X user – Storm Chaser Rob from Alabama – shared a video of the satellite radar as Milton transformed into the sinister form.
‘We have a SKULL. This is a distressing image. This sent shivers down my spine. Hurricane Milton will be talked about for a long time,” he wrote.
Experts have described Hurricane Milton as a “monster storm,” which makes this satellite image all the more appropriate.
Milton made landfall near Sarasota, Florida, around 8:30 PM ET on Wednesday.
The Category 3 storm spawned 150 tornadoes and lashed the state with up to 20 inches of rain, wind gusts of more than 100 miles per hour and a storm surge of more than five feet.
More than three million Floridians are still without power in the aftermath of Milton, according to poweroutage.usthat maintains utility reports.
Hurricane Matthew was also a devastating storm. In 2016, the storm hit Haiti as a Category 4 storm, causing severe flooding, landslides and damage to infrastructure, killing more than 500 people and displacing tens of thousands.
The full extent of Milton’s damage is still unknown, but reports and photos show extensive destruction, including yachts, sailboats and other vessels thrown ashore, downed power lines and homes left in ruins.
“As the day progresses, we will better understand the extent of the damage,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said.
“We still have more to do, but we will definitely get through this.”
As of 11:45 a.m. EDT Thursday, nine deaths have been confirmed in Florida.
The storm moved towards the coast on Thursday morning, but the danger has not yet passed. Milton could still flood parts of Florida’s Gulf Coast with a storm surge as high as three feet.