Hurricane Maria Takes Aim At Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico

TAMPA, FL — As folks across Irma-battered Florida and along the eastern seaboard kept a weary watch on Hurricane Maria’s trek through the Caribbean Tuesday, residents of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico had more imminent concerns. The National Hurricane Center said the powerful, Category 5 storm was heading on a path likely to have dire consequences for the islands.

“Preparations against life-threatening storm surge, rainfall, flooding and destructive winds should be rushed to completion,” center forecasters wrote Tuesday morning. (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.)

By 11 a.m. Tuesday, Maria was located about 115 miles west of Guadeloupe. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 160 mph while moving west-northwest at 10 mph. Maria’s hurricane-force winds extended out 35 miles while tropical storm-force winds had a reach of 140 miles from the storm’s center.

Watch: Hurricane Maria Makes 1st Landfall

“Maria is a potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane,” the center’s update said. “Some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two, but Maria is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous Category 4 or 5 hurricane until it moves near or over the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.”

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Hurricane warnings were in place for Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Kitts, Martinique, the U.S and British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, among other interests in the region. Warnings mean that hurricane conditions are anticipated within the watch area. Hurricane watches were also in place for Saba, Anguilla, St. Martin and other interests in the region. Watches indicate the potential for hurricane conditions within the designated area.

On its current projected path, Maria is expected to strike Puerto Rico Wednesday morning before taking a turn more to the north. The storm is expected to toward the Bahamas over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Jose was holding on to Category 1 status while moving north along the eastern seaboard Tuesday morning. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph and was located about 335 miles south-southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Jose is expected to lose hurricane strength as it continues to encounter cooler waters over the next day or so.

Tropical storm warnings remained in place Tuesday morning for Watch Hill to Hull, Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. The storm’s hurricane-force winds had a reach of 60 miles while tropical storm-force winds extended out 160 miles west of the center Tuesday morning.

On its current projected path, Jose is expected to skirt New England before turning in a more southerly direction.

Although it is too early to tell what impacts, if any, Maria and Jose may have on the continental 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 the 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