Most of us have seen at least one extreme atmospheric condition event in our life . But no matter how thing depend from the land , these events look drastically unlike , even surprisingly peaceable , from above . Here are some of the openhanded weather condition events of the last few decades , as seen from space .
1. Hurricane Katrina
Most of us commend the severe devastation Hurricane Katrina ( top trope ) caused , and it ’s well-heeled to see why the violent storm presented so many job when check from above — the arms of the hurricane expanded across most of the Gulf of Mexico . When this epitome was taken on August 28 , 2005 , wind in the tempest were recorded traveling at about 160 mph .
Katrina was not only one of the five deadliest hurricane in U.S. history — it was also the most expensive natural disaster in the nation ’s history , cause more than $ 108 billion in damage .
2. Superstorm Sandy
Just last year , the Floss headquarters was closed for weeks thanks to this monumental hurricane that caused over $ 75 billion in price .
3. Ireland and Britain’s Winter of 2009-2010
While not due to one storm in particular , the winter of 2009 through 2010 was outstandingly inhuman throughout Europe , bring in the season the title of “ The Big Freeze . ” This satellite image from January 7 , 2010 shows the extent of snow covering over England and Scotland .
4. Snowmageddon
Europe was n’t the only arena attain hard by winter that season . On February 5 , 2010 , the North Atlantic coast was dispatch by a category 3 ( major ) blizzard . Up to 35 inch of snow was dangle on the East Coast of the U.S. The area was already suffer from the effects of a blizzard that had occurred in December , and when another category 3 blizzard happened only a few solar day later , bringing another 20 inches of snow , the spiritualist began pronounce the upshot “ snowpocalypse , ” “ snoverkill ” and “ snowmageggon . ” Catchy nicknames aside , the storm leave in the snowy wintertime on record for much of the Mid - Atlantic , which is well-to-do to ideate render how much snow is visible in this artificial satellite image taken on February 11 .
5. Cyclone Gafilo
While it might not be as famous as many of the other storm on this list , 2004 ’s Cyclone Gafilo is the most acute cyclone to ever form in the south - western Indian Ocean and the strong cyclone to chance on Madagascar . With winds achieve over 185 miles per hour , the storm caused more than $ 250 million in damages and result in 172 end .
This image shows the cyclone on March 6 , after it reached peak speed and was about to come to northwest Madagascar .
6. 2009’s Australian Sandstorm
When someone says “ extreme conditions , ” you in all likelihood suppose of wet conditions , but when eminent winds strike sand , they can result in monumental dust storms that can be just as intense as a blizzard . In September of 2009 , a dust violent storm run into Eastern Australia , wholesale dirt and debris across New South Wales and Queensland . Typically , melodic phrase particle concentration register at 20 mcg per cubic m of air . During bushfires , the aura subatomic particle denseness raise to about 500 micrograms per cubic time . So you could imagine how concentrated the junk must have been for the air concentration level to reach 15,400 during the storm . It ’s been estimate that the storm carried over 16 million tons of dust from the desert to the coast , at a vizor stage of 75,000 tons per time of day .
7. 2003 Firestorm
Many would hesitate to call wildfires a weather event , but in most cases , weather is at least part responsible . This was definitely the lawsuit in the California wildfire of October 2003 , where over 15 wildfires broke out throughout Southern California and Baja , Mexico . I was in San Diego when the fire first break out and there was so much duncish , blank ash in the airwave that even 20 miles from the fires , it looked like the roads were covered in snow .
8. 2007 Wildfires
I was also present for the 2007 California wildfire , which were a termination of many of the same conditions conditions as the 2003 fervor , which have become a seasonal problem for the part .
Were any of you witness to these events , or do you have any extreme atmospheric condition stories of your own ? While everyone loves a sound story , you might consider yourself lucky if your result is “ no ” this sentence .
