After winding around the Bermuda Triangle for a few days, Tropical Storm Jose is expected to gain strength and move in the direction of the U.S., but the odds of it making landfall over American territory remain slim.
The latest update from the National Hurricane Center said that the storm poses a threat to the U.S. in the form of “life-threatening surf and rip currents” possible along portions of the East Coast, though there are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.
With sustained maximum winds of 70 miles per hour, Jose is a far cry from the Category 4 hurricane strength it once possessed but is expected to restrengthen into a lower-tier hurricane over the next couple of days.
Jose is 515 miles south-southwest of Bermuda and is forecast to head northeast in the direction of the Mid-Atlantic and later New England before forecasters expect the center of the storm to peal off to the east toward the middle of the ocean sometime early next week.
Here are the Key Messages for #Jose advisory 38 pic.twitter.com/goJnSR8kp8
— NHC Atlantic Ops (@NHC_Atlantic) September 14, 2017
Still, “a close brush with the U.S. East Coast cannot yet be ruled out next week,” says a report from Weather.com.
In the meantime, tropical storm force winds are possible from North Carolina up to New Hampshire.
Also on Thursday, two disturbances were detected in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean, which have the potential to become hurricanes, and Hurricane Max made landfall along Mexico’s Pacific coast.
The U.S. has already bit hit by two “major” hurricanes in recent weeks — Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, which by one estimate, caused a combined $290 billion in damage.
Hurricane season began on June 1 and ends on Nov. 30.
NHC continues to monitor 2 systems in the tropical eastern Atlantic with a high chance of formation in the next 5 days #96L #97L pic.twitter.com/jQcc2eRQs0
— NHC Atlantic Ops (@NHC_Atlantic) September 14, 2017
