Watch Hurricane Maria in Action in These NASA and NOAA Gifs

Updated for Sept. 21: Hurricane Maria is now a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185km/h) after hitting Puerto Rico, where the iconic Arecibo Observatory was slammed by the storm on the heels of Hurricane Irma. Satellites operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are tracking the massive storm from space and you can see some of those observations below, shared by the agencies on social media. [Videos of Hurricane Maria, Photos from Space]

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Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award (opens in new tab) for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast (opens in new tab) with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network (opens in new tab). To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik (opens in new tab).