Lester enters the Central Pacific as a category 4 hurricane

Two hurricanes this close together is rare for any part of the world, although it has become slightly more common in the past decade.

The images, which were taken from 257 miles above the Earth, show all three storms in spectacular detail – particularly the eye of Hurricane Lester.

Hurricane Lester was the first tropical storm spied on by the space station’s cameras.

This week’s hurricanes, Madeline and Lester, are both on a path toward Hawaii but the state is expected to narrowly avoid a direct hit.

On Aug. 31 at 6:50 p.m. EDT (22:50 UTC) the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite provided a visible image of Hurricane Lester.

Residents on Big Island have stockpiled water and evacuated animals in preparation for the hurricane. Madeline, recently downgraded to a category one storm from category four, is expected to make landfall on the southern coast of Hawaii on Thursday morning.

At that time the center of Hurricane Madeline was located near 18.7 degrees north latitude and 153.6 degrees west longitude.

The NHC said that Lester is moving toward the west near 14 miles per hour (22 kph), and this general motion is expected to continue for the next couple of days. Lester’s eye was still visible although some high clouds had filtered into it. The estimated minimum central pressure is 948 millibars. On the forecast track, Lester will move into the central Pacific basin this afternoon.Maximum sustained winds are near 130 miles per hour (215 km/h) with higher gusts.