Jose regained hurricane status on Friday as it heads in the direction of the U.S., and is followed by two other would-be hurricanes developing in the Atlantic Ocean.
As Jose emerges from the Bermuda Triangle as a Category 1 hurricane (with 75-miles-per-hour sustained maximum winds), where it has looped around for days, the storm is strengthening and making its way toward the mid-Atlantic and later New England. Jose, which was a “major” Category 4 hurricane last week, was downgraded to a tropical storm on Thursday.
Jose was 640 miles south-southwest of Cape Hatteras, N.C., as of 5 p.m. Eastern.
Though forecasters predict the resurgent storm likely will not make landfall over the U.S., there is a high probability that it will brush by the East Coast, bringing with it “swells” that “are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current,” according to the National Hurricane Center. NHC has not yet issued any coastal watches or warnings.
Tropical-force winds are also expected from North Carolina all the way up to Maine, and rain associated with the storm system can be expected in New York, Boston, and other parts of New England by mid-week.
Despite the low likelihood of the storm sweeping into the U.S., this week forecasters have been couching that with caution over the uncertainty that is taken into account with their models.
“We cannot rule out landfall in New England during the middle of next week,” said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dan Pydynowski in a report published Friday.
Though the storm is strengthening now, the NHC believes it will diminish into a tropical storm again by mid-week.
Even the cone of the probable path of the center of the storm from the National Hurricane Center shows that Jose could roll into Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire sometime between Tuesday and Wednesday. However, the majority of that same cone shows that storm likely curling off the northeast out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Interests along the U.S. east coast from North Carolina northward should monitor the progress of #Jose through the weekend. pic.twitter.com/i8LLpnEmeo
— NHC Atlantic Ops (@NHC_Atlantic) September 15, 2017
Two disturbances were detected Thursday in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean, which have the potential to become hurricanes as they head east. As of Friday, one has already been upgraded to a tropical depression.
Also on Thursday, Hurricane Max made landfall along Mexico’s Pacific coast.
The U.S. has already been hit by two “major” hurricanes in recent weeks — Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which by one estimate caused a combined $290 billion in damage. Islands in the Caribbean also endured the wrath of these storms as they developed.
Hurricane season began on June 1 and won’t end until Nov. 30.
