Hurricane Maria broke into the list of top 10 hurricanes with the lowest minimum pressure on record in the Atlantic Ocean, striking an ominous note for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico as the storm makes its way there.
The 7 p.m. Eastern time advisory from the National Hurricane Center, showing data from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft, said that the pressure within the Category 5 hurricane dropped to 909 millibars near the center, making it the 10th lowest pressure system to be recorded in the Atlantic.
Hurricanes are by nature rotating low-pressure systems, and the lower the pressure, the more powerful the storm.
The Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are under direct threat as Maria is “still strengthening,” according to the NHC. A wind gust of 63 miles per hour was recently reported in Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
#Maria at 909mb is lowest since Dean in 2007. She is about ready to make the top 10 strongest Hurricane pic.twitter.com/AEJdm5xB00
— Brian Richins (@brian_richins) September 19, 2017
The storm was located about 70 miles away from Croix at 7 p.m. and was heading west-northwest at about 10 miles per hour, had maximum sustained winds of 175 miles per hour.
Maria’s eye is expected to make landfall over Puerto Rico by Wednesday morning. Puerto Rico, an island of about 3.4 million residents already experiencing a financial crisis was battered by Hurricane Irma only two weeks ago, causing up to $1 billion worth of damage. Maria’s current minimum pressure is lower than that of Irma, which reached a low of 914 mb.
#Maria is one scary #hurricane tonight- St. Croix and Puerto Rico are dead in its sights. Hoping for the best ? pic.twitter.com/MbglSkUBDG
— Eric Blake ? (@EricBlake12) September 19, 2017
“Locations may be uninhabitable for weeks or months,” said the National Weather Service of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
“No generation has seen a hurricane like this since San Felipe II in 1928. This is an unprecedented atmospheric system,” said Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello in an advisory released by his government on Tuesday.
