Watch: NASA Satellite Captures Record-Breaking Hurricane Form Over Eastern Pacific

Hurricane Patricia as seen from NASA’s Terra satellite on Oct. 23 at 17:30 UTC (1:30 p.m. EDT). Credits: NASA’s Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team

At 8 a.m. EDT on October 23, 2015, the National Hurricane Center reported Patricia became the strongest eastern north pacific hurricane on record with sustained winds near 200 mph, potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane as it approaches Mexico’s coast. The storm is expected to make landfall somewhere from San Blas to Punta San Telmo, Mexico later this afternoon.

The animation below is made from images captured from October 20 to 23 from NOAA’s GOES-West satellite shows Hurricane Patricia near western Mexico. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project