Hurricane Florence: Astronaut photos of the giant storm from space

The International Space Station (ISS).NASA

Alexander Gerst, a German astronaut who’s currently orbiting Earth from 250 miles up, has a warning for humans on the planet below him.

“Watch out, America!” Gerst, who joined the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) in June, said Wednesday via a tweet featuring pictures he took of Hurricane Florence. “[T]his is a no-kidding nightmare coming for you.”

Hurricane Florence is a Category-4 storm that’s headed for the US East Coast and predicted to start impacting South Carolina and North Carolina as early as Thursday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Due to the storm’s enormous size and power, it’s been a recent — if not frightening — muse for astronaut photography.

Here are some of the best images of Hurricane Florence by Gerst and Ricky Arnold, a fellow NASA astronaut who’s also living on board the ISS.