CNN  — 

From space, hurricanes look deceptively benign. And terrifying.

A NOAA satellite captured this video of Hurricane Florence gathering steam in the southeast Atlantic early Monday on its path towards the East Coast of the US.

From 22,236 miles above the Earth, its massive swirling cloud spiral looks like a cosmic pinwheel. Or maybe an uncoiling snake.

Its seemingly languid pace is a lie. Up close, Florence is packing maximum sustained winds of 105 mph and gusts up to 125 mph.

As as of 5 a.m. ET Monday the hurricane was about 625 miles southeast of Bermuda, moving west-northwest at about 9 mph. It’s projected to strike the Carolinas late Thursday night or early Friday morning.