Is image of skull showing up at the center of Hurricane Michael?

Tuesday's satellite views of Hurricane Michael seemed to warn that it will become a Category 4 storm before its eye hits the Florida Panhandle or the state's Big Bend area in early afternoon Wednesday.

In a sort of Rorschach test for weather forecasters, some saw the image of a skull at the center of the now-Category 4 hurricane, which has sustained winds of nearly 130 mph as of early Wednesday.

That's something no one really wants, but the National Hurricane Center is anticipating the possibility because water temperatures in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico remain warm for autumn, said WeatherTiger meteorologist Ryan Truchelut of Tallahassee, Florida.

"#Michael has that 'skull' appearance on IR (infrared) satellite this morning as the eye is beginning to clear out through the CDO," meteorologist Jim Dickey at WZVN-TV, Fort Myers, Florida, tweeted Tuesday morning. CDO stands for central dense overcast, which in weather speak means the thunderstorm clouds that surround the eye of a hurricane.

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AccuWeather noted a similarity to Hurricane Matthew on Oct. 6, 2017, when an infrared satellite image passing over Haiti went viral after seeming to show a creepy skull.

Twelve hours later at about 8:30 p.m. ET, the skull had morphed into a sort of smirking smiley face. Or maybe you see something else in the satellite's blots.

Contributing: Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat. Follow Cheryl McCloud on Twitter: @TCPalmCMcCloud

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