HURRICANE MARIA POUNDS PUERTO RICO EAST COAST WATCHES CLOSELY

HURRICANE MARIA POUNDS PUERTO RICO EAST COAST WATCHES CLOSELY – Good morning everyone, bad news overnight on several fronts. First off, Hurricane Maria gave the U.S. Virgin Islands the full eye wall experience as her eye slipped just south and west of the area. It is unknown the full extent of the damage yet, but we’ve seen this play out on other islands and we don’t expect a pretty picture.

After Maria was done in the islands, she made landfall on the east/southeast coast of Puerto Rico. This is ongoing as we speak and we expect an equally sad picture for areas who experience the strongest winds and surge.

Hurricane Maria is expected to weaken slightly as she runs into the high terrain of Puerto Rico. However, due to her initial Category 4/5 strength, that weakening won’t do much to make a difference at this point. She should re-emerge from the island relatively unscathed and able to strengthen back to at least a strong Cat 4.

As of the 5am advisory, Maria is still a strong category 4, with winds of 155mph and 190mph gusts. This should drop somewhat, but again, any drop will be inconsequential and whatever she loses as far as wind speed, should be regained.

In the long range, it’s pretty much safe to say that Florida is safe from this one as far as direct effects. That being said, the lower Bahamas are still in danger and early morning models depict the East Coast (mid-Atlantic/Northeast) needs to do the dance again as far as keeping a close eye on yet another hurricane.

Hurricane Maria is expected to continue a northwesterly track, north of Hispaniola, and near the lower Bahamas before turning north. How far she goes before making that turn will be key as far as who may get affected if affected at all. Due to the speed increase after this expected turn, it’s important that we keep an eye on Maria, because if any preparing needs to be done, we’ll only have a few days.

As of now, we pray for the areas Maria has hit, and we will continue to watch for any changes that may or may not impact the East Coast.