Hurricane Maria: How Will It Affect New York City?

NEW YORK, NY – Hurricane Maria has passed Puerto Rico, leaving at least nine dead and the island without power, and forecasters were warily watching its path – and warned that the Northeast could be in its way.

AccuWeather predicted the latest storm could follow a track very similar to Hurricane Jose, which was still churning just a few hundred miles off the Northeast shore Thursday.

"Beyond the Caribbean, Maria will take a path somewhat similar to Jose and may be a concern for part of the eastern United States, Atlantic Canada and Bermuda," said AccuWeather's senior meteorologist Alan Sosnowski.

Watch: Hurricane Maria Is The Strongest Storm To Hit Puerto Rico In Decades

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Indications are that Maria will not track west to Florida. Instead, it will start to turn northward .

"During the middle to latter part of next week, possibilities range from the hurricane remaining offshore to an encounter with the U.S. mainland from the Carolinas on north," Sosnowski said.

As always, long term predictions are a very inexact science, he said.

"At the very least, heavy seas, rough surf, strong rip currents and areas of beach erosion are likely to continue along much of the the Atlantic Seaboard," he said.

Lead image courtesy of the National Hurricane Center