Hurricane Maria Reaches Category 5 Status

TAMPA, FL — While all eyes in the northeast are on Hurricane Jose, folks across Irma-battered Florida are wearily watching the development of Hurricane Maria. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said Maria had strengthened enough to earn Category 5 status by Monday night.

Hurricane Maria was located about 15 miles east-southeast of Dominica by 8 p.m. Monday. The Category 5 storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 160 mph while heading west-northwest at 9 mph.

"The eye and intense inner core is nearing Dominica," hurricane center forecasters wrote at 8 p.m. Monday, noting Maria was now "potentially catastrophic."

With hurricane-force winds extending out 25 miles from the center and tropical storm-force winds reaching some 125 miles, Maria had prompted many watches and warnings to go up across the Caribbean. (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.)

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.

Watch: Hurricane Maria Makes Landfall As A Category 5 Storm

Like Tampa Patch on Facebook and keep reading below:

On its current projected path, Maria is expected to reach Puerto Rico by early Wednesday morning. The storm is expected to clear the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba before taking a turn toward the Bahamas on Saturday. Forecasters expect Maria to remain a major hurricane throughout the week.

Hurricane Jose was continuing its northward trek in the Atlantic Ocean Monday evening. By 8 p.m., the Category 1 storm was located about 230 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Jose was packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph while moving north at 10 mph. Tropical storm warnings were up for Watch Hill to Hull, Block Island, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

Forecasters say hurricane-force winds extend out from Jose’s center by about 60 miles. Tropical storm-force winds reach about 230 miles. On its current projected path, Jose is expected to take a turn toward the east later in the week before downgrading to a tropical storm.

Meanwhile, Tropical Depression Lee was continuing to fizzle out Monday evening. Forecasters say the storm still had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph but is expected to become a low by late Monday evening or early Tuesday. Lee posed no risk to major land masses Monday evening.

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