An eerie satellite image of Hurricane Milton shows the storm taking the shape of a skull before making landfall in Florida on Wednesday.
Weather Channel senior meteorologist Stu Ostro shared the eerie photo on X, showing 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. “It is interesting that intense hurricanes can be conducive to having that structure,” he wrote.
Both 2016’s Hurricane Matthew (left) and Hurricane Milton (right) took the shape of a strange skull before making landfall.
Another X user, Storm Chaser Rob from Alabama, shared a video of satellite radar as Milton transformed into the sinister form.
‘We have a SKULL. This is a heartbreaking image. This gave me chills. “Hurricane Milton will be talked about for a long time,” he wrote.
Experts have described Hurricane Milton as a “monstrous” storm, making this satellite image even more appropriate.
Milton made landfall near Sarasota, Florida, around 8:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
The Category 3 storm spawned 150 tornadoes and pummeled the state with up to 20 inches of rain, wind gusts of more than 100 mph and peak storm surges of more than five feet.
More than three million Floridians still without power after Milton, according to poweroutage.uswhich tracks utility reports.
Hurricane Matthew was also a devastating storm. It hit Haiti as a Category 4 storm in 2016, causing severe flooding, landslides and damage to infrastructure that killed more than 500 people and displaced tens of thousands.
The full extent of the damage caused by Milton is still unknown, but reports and photographs show extensive devastation, including yachts, sailboats, and other watercraft washed ashore, downed power lines, and homes turned into rubble.
“We will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresses,” said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
“We have more to do, but we will definitely get through this.”
As of 11:45 a.m. EDT on Thursday, nine people have been confirmed dead in Florida.
The storm moved out to sea Thursday morning, but the danger is not over yet. Milton could still flood parts of Florida’s Gulf Coast with storm surges of up to three to five feet.