The birth of Hurricane Sandy

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 below -- 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.