Hurricane Matthew Is Seriously Creepy-Looking

Currently sweeping across the northern Caribbean, Hurricane Matthew is already wreaking havoc in the Atlantic, and will undoubtedly cause even more destruction as it continues to move north into the United States. The already-sinister storm appears scary on satellite as well. One meteorologist captured a terrifying image of Hurricane Matthew in which the storm looks like a grinning skull, the spookiest of all spooky symbols. This terrifying picture of Hurricane Matthew is a reminder to all within the storm's path to stay safe, because Mother Nature doesn't play around.

The picture, captured by a NASA satellite, shows the hurricane just as its eye passed over the western tip of Haiti. Due to the way the storm clouds were moving at the time, with the dense inner part of the storm in the south and the eye glowing an ominous red, the hurricane appears to look just like a grinning skull. Weather Channel meteorologist Stu Ostro posted the image on Twitter, assuring viewers that it was "un-doctored" and that the storm really was that creepy-looking.

Although it was ultimately not quite as powerful as originally expected, Matthew still made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane, with winds up to 105 miles per hour extending 60 miles away from the center. Haiti was the first country hit by the powerful storm Tuesday night, and at least five people were killed by flooding and falling power lines. An additional six people were killed in other countries — four in the Dominican Republic, one in Colombia, and one in St. Vincent and Grenadines. According to Haiti Libre, the country's biggest newspaper, over 14,000 people have been displaced by the disaster already.

Matthew should land in the United States on Thursday evening in southern Florida before making its way up the East Coast. While previous predictions showed the storm hitting North Carolina before turning off the East Coast and back into the Atlantic, the latest models show that the state should remain largely untouched by the hurricane. Still, North Carolina governor Pat McCrory warned his constituents in a press conference Wednesday morning to stay alert and ready. “Models can change at a moment’s notice," McCrory said during a press conference. “My goal is to be overprepared and underwhelmed.”

Although the image is scary enough in and of itself, the real fear here is the hurricane. If you're in the storm path, make sure you're properly prepared for the storm, and if you want to help with the recovery, donate to the Red Cross's Disaster Relief fund to support the victims.