NASA Sheds Light on This Week's Deadly Tornado Outbreak

The U.S. South is currently being pummeled by an outbreak of severe storms. At least 16 people have already died, and tornado warnings are still active in three states as of 5:30 p.m. EDT. The genesis of this nasty weather is now on display at NASA's website, which has compiled satellite footage of this major system whipping over the land. And it's every bit as humbling as you'd imagine: titanic clouds boiling into the atmosphere over and over again, obscuring structure-demolishing winds lashing at the earth below.

This animation of images from NOAA's GOES-East satellite tracks the weather from Saturday night to Monday morning. A violent squall line of thunderstorms starts to form around 10:45 EDT on Sunday morning. "This storm system generated reports of tornadoes from Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi," writes NASA: