Our Florida Friends----Hurricane Irma

[Anotherkiwi]

Hurricane Maria intensified from low end Category 1 to a Category 5 major hurricane in just 24 hours!  It made a direct hit on Dominica in the Lesser Antilles, and is now heading for Puerto Rico, which has already been badly side-swiped by Irma.

Muzh - I hope your friends and family have got everything screwed down really tightly.  There's apparently not one house left with a roof in Dominica - although hopefully that's just the Prime Minister exaggerating slightly for effect.  It's the first Category 5 hurricane ever to strike the island, because they don't normally have time to intensify that much after formation before getting that far west.  It is now the fifth most easterly storm to reach Category 5 (Irma was the third most easterly).

[BdHvA]

Presently it is the proverbial calm before the storm in New England, but one can almost feel the air pressure dropping. If one was not aware of radar and Hurricane Hunters, one would think what a perfect night. But the crickets and seagulls are largely still, the snappers have stopped feeding and the flags are listless. It is odd to see how others prepare, some going over the top, others quite nonchalant adjusting a fender and walking away.

It looks like Jose will pass to East of New England and perhaps by the time it reaches 40n (it is presently just above 35n) it will be a NorEaster or the leftovers of Jose. The wind expectations are for Block Island around 30 to 40 knots max and further East for Nantucket 40 to 50 knots max. But Nantucket will see longer sustained winds over the island. In another light they will suffer 6 high tide cycles with strong winds.

Maria is a big question mark but it is supposed to turn North as opposed to Irma that kept traveling West. If this happens and the brush with Haiti and Puerto Rico are glancing the possibility exists for Maria to become big and fugly. Presently it is small and intense. It could become a major threat to the Eastern Seaboard. Presently the Jet Stream is not very tight, when this is the case this tends to 'protect' the East Coast of the States.

[BdHvA]

Jose, Did a Roberto and is heading to . . . . the UK. But between the high pressure between Jose and Irma and the Roberto this becomes an issue next week for Maria. It might be little more than some more wind or a direct hit.

In any event New England today dodged a bullet it seems.

 

[Anotherkiwi]

Jose, Did a Roberto and is heading to . . . . the UK.

Wrong.  Jose is starting another clockwise loop, and in a week may be heading to Washington to call on President Trump.    Luckily, by that time, he will have weakened to "only" a Tropical Storm - maybe even down to a Tropical Depression.

Maria, on the other hand, has ramped up again, with sustained winds now of 175 mph, and gusts well over 200.  Right in the firing line for close to a direct hit is St Croix, around 1 am Wednesday (EDT), then Puerto Rico a few hours later.  Storm force winds (60 mph+) are already smashing into Puerto Rico, and it's probably still another 12 hours before the hurricane actually hits the island.

[tfcrew]

 

Wrong.  Jose is starting another clockwise loop

Maria and Jose will meet up and do the Macarena in the Atlantic.

[BdHvA]

Maria and Jose will meet up and do the Macarena in the Atlantic.

More like spinning tops grazing each other. Maria and what is left of Jose are rather lazy things bumbling about on the Atlantic. Though there is a chance next week mid week Maria might want to kiss terra firma.

[BdHvA]

Who says that government officials do not have a sense of humour.

FROM NHC-NOAA

000
WTNT42 KNHC 222034
TCDAT2

Post-Tropical Cyclone Jose Discussion Number  70
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL       AL122017
500 PM AST Fri Sep 22 2017

After 70 advisories, enough is enough.  The tropical-storm-force
winds from Jose have finally subsided and moved out of the
southern New England

[BdHvA]

Nate, is now becoming a force to be considered, for some it might give quite the punch. Only ten notices and now a hurricane.

Most hurricanes now form over the Caribbean sea at this time of the year, the Cape Verde ones are largely over, but there is an odd storm in the mid-Atlantic that is unusual, time will tell.