The Birth of Hurricane Sandy

NASA video: 10 days of storm development in 20 seconds

Hurricane Sandy may be shaping up to be the worst storm in recent history. But it began life like all storms do: as a series of winds, breezing their way across Earth's surface.

The video above -- a full disk animation from NASA's GOES-EAST satellite -- shows the birth of Sandy starting on October 18, 2012. Seen from space, the storm's development is (relatively) subtle: It begins over Central America and then winds through the Caribbean and the east coast of the United States -- gathering size (and, less obviously here, force) as it goes. The animation ends, rather ominously, at 4:45pm EDT today.

If you want to see what the storm looks like now, take a look at the video below from the NASA Earth Observatory. It's stunning.