(CNN) Nobody wants to be under the whirling clouds of a hurricane, but above them? That's a different story.

What these images show isn't necessarily the power of the storm -- though it is intriguing to see the placid blanket of white and imagine the roiling storm. What you're really seeing here is the cloud shield, which gives you a good idea of size, rather than power.

Since then, Hurricane Lane has weakened from a category 4 storm to a category 3, and could be downgraded again as soon as Friday morning before weakening to a tropical storm over the weekend.

READ MORE: Hurricane Lane updates

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