Hurricane Maria Forms In The Atlantic Ocean

TAMPA, FL — As Floridians continue to recover from Hurricane Irma, a new menace has appeared in the Atlantic Ocean. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center officially upgraded Maria to a Category 1 storm Sunday evening.

By 5 p.m. Sept. 17, Hurricane Maria was located about 140 miles east-northeast of Barbados. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph while moving west-northwest at 15 mph. Hurricane warnings had gone up for St. Kitts, Nevis and other interests in the region. Warnings mean that conditions are expected within the warning area within 36 hours. Hurricane watches had also gone up for the Virgin Islands, St. Maarten and Anguilla, among other locations. Watches mean hurricane conditions are possible in the defined area within 48 hours. (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Tampa Patch. Click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Forecasters said hurricane-force winds extended out from Maria by 15 miles by 5 p.m. Sunday. Tropical storm-force winds reached out 105 miles from the storm’s center.

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Hurricane center forecasters expect Maria to continue strengthening over the next few days. The storm is expected to reach major hurricane status by Wednesday before possibly colliding with Puerto Rico. On its current projected path, Maria may also pose a risk for the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Whether the storm will impact Florida or any part of the continental United States remains too soon to tell.

Hurricane Jose was also drawing the attention of forecasters Sunday evening. The storm was located about 335 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, by 5 p.m. Sunday. Jose, a Category 1 storm, was packing maximum sustained winds of 90 mph while moving north at 9 mph. Tropical storm watches had gone up for portions of New England, including Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

Forecasters say hurricane-force winds extended out from Jose by 60 miles Sunday evening. Tropical storm-force winds had a reach of about 205 miles. On its current projected path, Jose is expected to continue north over the next few days before downgrading to a tropical storm. The storm is expected to take a turn for the east as the week progresses.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Lee downgraded to a depression by Sunday evening. That storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 35 mph while heading west at 8 mph. Forecasters anticipate Lee will take a northward turn over the next day or so. On its present course, Lee poses no risk to major land masses.

Although it is too early to tell what impacts, if any, Maria and Jose may have on the United States, the storms serve as reminders that hurricane season is far from over. In fact, the peak of the season is ongoing.

Forecasters call the period between mid-August and mid-October the “season within the season.” This eight-week period “is often the most active and dangerous time for tropical cyclone activity,” according to NOAA. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 each year. Average seasons produce about 12 named storms, of which six become hurricanes. Three of the hurricanes are generally deemed major.

Graphics courtesy of the National Hurricane Center