The most powerful images of the natural world from 2024

The ominous swirling grey of Hurricane Milton is captured in the Gulf of Mexico in this shot from the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere. In October, Milton became one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded over the Gulf of Mexico, with winds hitting 285 kilometres per hour. Once it made landfall as a category 3 storm in Florida, it caused storms and flooding that wrecked homes and power lines. It killed at least 35 people, 32 in the US and three in Mexico.