With the devastation of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma barely behind us, the National Hurricane Center is busy tracking more new storms that have cropped up in the Atlantic.
Hurricane Jose is, thankfully, expected to stay off the coast as it moves north, but it has brought heavy rain to the mid-Atlantic and wind and dangerous rip tides to the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware beaches. Fenwick, Delaware was under a tropical storm watch, along with areas further north to New England. Meteorologists say this one is behaving more like a nor’easter than a damaging hurricane.
Hurricane Maria, meanwhile, is battering the islands as a Category 5 storm, with sustained winds of 175 miles per hour and gusts even higher. The National Hurricane Center says Puerto Rico and St. Croix are in imminent danger. St. Croix was one of the few U.S. Virgin Islands that was spared by Hurricane Irma. In fact, it has been used as a staging area to get supplies to harder-hit islands nearby.
Most models are projecting that Maria will be offshore by the time she gets as far north as the Bay, but we’ll continue to monitor her progress.
In the midst of this extremely active hurricane season, local and national safety officials remind people in coastal areas to have an emergency plan in place. To read Maryland Emergency Management Agency’s “hurricane plan” tips, click here.
