Category 5 Hurricane Maria Devastates Dominica, Other Islands Targeted

Hurricane Irma bearing down on the Leeward Islands
on Monday. It quickly blew up to a Category 5 storm
with sustained winds of 160 mph. 

Another gorgeous Caribbean Island has just been swallowed up and destroyed by a huge hurricane during this devastating late summer.

It was a worst case scenario for the island nation of Dominica as Category 5 Hurricane Maria hit. 

First of all, they didn't have much time to prepare.  Places like Barbuda and the Virgin Islands at least had about three days to prepare for Hurricane Irma earlier this month.

Hurricane Maria blew up from a tropical storm to a Category 5 monster with 160 mph sustained winds in just 27 hours, all the while bearing down on Dominica, population about 72,000.

Everybody on Dominica was in grave danger. The Prime Minister of Dominca, Roosevelt Skerritt  tweeted during the storm: "My roof is gone. I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding."

He was later rescued, but as the winds began to die down he sent out a heartbreaking message:

Skerritt said in part:

"So far we have lost all what money can buy and replace....My greatest fear for the morning is that we will wake to news of serious physical injury and possible deaths as a result of likely landslides triggered by persistent rains...."

Skerritt said every roof of every house he knows of on the island was blown off. "I am honestly not preoccupied with physical damage at this time, because it is devastating... indeed, mind boggling."

Dominica is just the start of Maria's wrath, most unfortunately. The mountains of Dominic barely dented Maria's strength - it knocked the storm back down ever so slightly to a high end Category 4 hurricane.

But now, Hurricane Maria right back up to a Category 5 monster with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph.

Maria will remain a Category 4 or 5 storm as it plows through the Virgin Islands and then Puerto Rico in the next couple of days.

Puerto Rico is a real nightmare. It has severe infrastructure and economic problems, and the electrical network still isn't really fully up and running after Puerto Rico was sideswiped by Hurricane Irma a couple weeks ago.

There's a lot of concern about Puerto Ricans living in flimsy wooden or tin houses. "You have to evacuate. Otherwise you're going to die. I don't know how to make this any clearer," said Hector Pesquera, the island's public safety commissioner.

As for the mainland United States and Maria, there's still no guarantees. Unlike during Irma, it looks increasingly like Maria will curve north well before reaching Florida, so the Sunshine State will likely be spared, aside from some coastal flooding and battering waves along the state's east coast.

It is possible that dying Hurricane Jose, which will cause tropical storm conditions along the New England coast, will influence Maria in a good way.

Again, no guarantees, but there are suggestions among at least some of the computer forecasting models that Jose, lingering southeast of New England, could help pull Hurricane Maria northeastward, keeping it away from the United States east coast.

Again, it's important to stress that there's still a chance Maria could have impacts in the United States, so we'll have to keep an eye on this one, just in case.

By the way, up here in Vermont, we're going to stay on our extended period of dry, unseasonably warm weather for the next several days. There were a few pop up showers Monday, but not many, and a little rain from Jose will probably creep into southeastern Vermont Wednesday.

Up in Burlington, we tied the record high of 87 for the date on Monday. It was the fourth consecutive day in the 80s. Today might be the fifth.

Hurricanes Jose And Maria Just Keep On Menacing

Visible satellite view of growing Hurricane Maria taken
just after sunrise as the storm bears down on the
Leeward Islands. 

This very busy hurricane season continues to keep pace today, as we now have more specific forecasts of how Hurricane Jose will affect New England. And Hurricane Maria is a terrible threat to a number of Caribbean islands.

Let's take the two big storms one at a time:

HURRICANE JOSE

Coastal New England is now getting ready for Hurricane Jose, which won't hit the region directly, but  will be big enough to make for a very nasty midweek.

A tropical storm watch is now in effect from the Delaware Coast to southeastern Massachusetts. Some computer models bring gusts over 60 mph to some coastal locations as Jose makes its closest pass late Tuesday and Wednesday.

There will almost surely be some trees and wires down in the areas covered by the tropical storm watch.

It's going to rain like hell on the Cape and Islands, too, with maybe three to as much as eight inches of rain expected on outer Long Island, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and the Cape.

Forecasters are watching this closely. Right now it looks like the heaviest rain won't get that far inland, minimizing the chances of widespread flooding. However, if the downpours go just a little further west than expected, places like Boston and New York could see some pretty unpleasant urban flooding.

It looks like coastal flooding, battering waves and rip currents will affect beaches in New England all week, too.

On the bright side, Jose is weakening as it approaches New England, as it's being worn down by strong upper level winds and colder ocean temperatures. (Hurricanes need warm ocean water to survive and grow, if the water gets a little too cool, hurricanes tend to weaken.)

Jose will stay offshore, it looks like, but either it, or its remnants will linger southeast of New England all week into next weekend. There's even a chance it could head south again, find some warm water and begin to rebuild itself. We'll see about that.

Up here in Vermont, the effects from Jose will be minimal. There probably will be some showers from Jose in the southeastern half of the state Wednesday.

DANGEROUS HURRICANE MARIA

Hurricane Maria was rapidly intensifying this morning as it approached the central Leeward Islands. Its top sustained winds were 90 mph early this morning, but Maria is forecast to become a major hurricane - Category 3 or 4 with winds of 125 mph or more.

Maria's track is roughly parallel to the one destructive Hurricane Irma took, but Maria's path is just a little south of Irma's.

The northern Leeward Islands, and the Virgin Islands, completely trashed by Irma, are now going to get raked by Maria. It's just awful, to say the least.

Even worse, with the track further south, the central Leeward Islands, which didn't fare terribly with Irma, will get a horrible blow.

Also, Irma skirted Puerto Rico just to its north, causing massive power failures and some damage on that island, but it didn't devastate the U.S. territory.

At this point, it looks like Hurricane Maria will probably go right over Puerto Rico Wednesday or early Thursday while it is at top strength, so this is a real scary moment for them.

After Maria is done with Puerto Rico, it will head toward the northwest, kind of on a path toward the U.S. East Coast. But for the mainland, it's not time to panic yet, for sure. While it's possible Maria could hit, the massive hurricane could turn out to sea as well.

Nobody knows for sure, so we'll just have to keep watching.

Heat, Jose, Lee And Maria Keeping Us Busy

Satellite view Sumday morning shows Hurricane Jose southeast of
the Carolinas, soon to be Hurricane Maria in the center menacing
the Leeward Islands, and weak Tropical Storm Lee to the right. 

Quick Sunday update as the weather gets active again, though not so active here in Vermont.

The record high for today's date in Burlington, Vermont is 86 degrees, set in the hot September of 2015. That record could be challenged today as our long warm spell peaks.

Don't worry about any sharp cold fronts, though. Temperatures will slowly ease back downward over the next several days, but still remain warmer than normal. Little if any rain will come, either.

But the tropics sure are busy again! We have Hurricane Jose, still tormenting forecasters off the East Coast, new Tropical Storm Lee, which probably won't amount to much, and soon to be Hurricane Maria, which has a lot of people, including me, deeply worried.

HURRICANE JOSE

Hurricane Jose is still trudging northward, well off the East Coast. Many computer forecasting models predict Jose to steer directly toward New England, then take a hard right turn before it gets here, thereby making New England miss the worst effects of the storm.

Note that I said many computer models. That's because a few still take Jose into or at least very close to eastern New England during the middle of the week. The bottom line is that the Northeast Coast is guaranteed to have rip currents, battering waves, some coastal flooding and breezy conditions. There's still a chance it could get even worse than that so stay tuned.

Here in Vermont, we still expect minimal effects from Jose.

TROPICAL STORM LEE

This one developed in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean yesterday. It is moving to the west or northwest. Strong upper level winds above Tropical Storm Lee indicate the system won't be able to develop much and could just dissipate in a few days. It doesn't look like much of a threat to anybody at this point.

TROPICAL STORM MARIA

Maria is the scary one. It quickly developed into a tropical storm yesterday as it organized itself remarkably fast. It's expected to become a hurricane today and a major one within a couple of days.

Soon-to-be Hurricane Maria is heading toward the central and northern Leeward Islands, and will probably be a major hurricane by the time it gets there. This, of course, is extremely bad because many of these islands were devastated by Hurricane Irma.

Maria is also a threat to the badly Irma damaged Virgin Islands as well. This hurricane is also a definite threat to Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola.

It's too soon to speculate on what kind of threat Maria could pose to the United States. But Maria is the one to watch and the one to be worried about.

The Last Summer Weekend, And Hurricane Jose

A very hazy view from a hill in St. Albans, Vermont Friday.

Up here in Vermont, it's the last weekend of astronomical summer, and in the weather department, it's going to be the last weekend of summer, too.

This is typical August, not September. Sunshine, haze, a fair amount of humidity, and temperatures in the 80s will greet us both today and Sunday. This is quite a switch from the first 10 days or so of September, which was quite a bit cooler than normal.  

If you like summer weather, enjoy it. It's probably the last time you'll see such weather until next year. Having said that, part of next week will be warm, too, but maybe not quite as toasty as this weekend.

I have to say, air quality isn't great. You probably noticed the haze yesterday and that will continue today and Sunday. A large part of it is the wildfires in the western United States and Canada, which produced a large cloud of smoke that has been obscuring the skies over much of North America for the past month.

Another reason why it's kind of polluted out there is because the high pressure system causing our warm weather is also stagnant. Just sitting there. With no good winds to push pollutants away. So our cars and other stuff emit pollutants into the air and it doesn't blow away.

The air will eventually, gradually get better. A fair amount of snow fell on the mountains of Montana and Alberta Friday, which will go a long way to suppressing some of the fires out there. That means less smoke and haze will work it's way eastward toward us.

Also, the stagnant ridge of high pressure will weaken with time during the upcoming week, and the air will get stirred up by Hurricane Jose.

Don't worry. I still don't think Vermont is going to get huge effects from Jose, but coastal New England might. I'll get to that in a second.

The weakening high pressure system and the northern extent of Jose will create an east wind over the North Country next week. That means the air will come from a less polluted source: The atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean.

HURRICANE JOSE

Of course, as I said, Hurricane Jose is creating the aforementioned east wind, and the storm is definitely going to pose some problems along the East Coast.

It's northeast of the Bahamas, still, and about to head north. It will slowly crawl toward New England over the next few days. It will probably - but not definitely - remain offshore.

It's not the most powerful hurricane ever. Maximum sustained winds are around 80 mph, and Jose could weaken to a tropical storm once it's off the Northeast Coast.

Satellite view of Hurricane Jose spinning northeast
of the Bahamas on Friday. 

However, Jose is getting to be huge in size and is moving slowly. That means that even if the center of Jose stays well offshore, coastal areas from North Carolina on up to the Northeast can expect nasty rip currents, beach erosion, some coastal flooding and other hazards like that.

Tropical storm conditions could easily come up to Cape Cod and the islands by Wednesday, though that is not cast in stone yet.

Many - but not all - computer models have Jose making a right turn away from the coast, but it's unclear if that veer to the east would come before Jose gets to New England. It could come once Jose is in southern New England. Too soon to tell.

At this point here in Vermont, Jose could drop some rain on us around Wednesday especially over the southeastern half of the state. But even that's not sure because we don't know the exact track of the storm.

Erratic Jose Still Raising Questions For New England

After weakening this week, Jose is showing signs of
restrengthening this morning northeast of the Bahamas
Could be a New England threat next week.

Maybe I was too quick the  other day to dismiss the chances of Tropical Storm or Hurricane Jose affecting New England.

Jose, now a tropical storm after being a hurricane for quite a long time, is expected to restrengthen to hurricane status soon. I talked yesterday about how erratic the path of Jose is, and that's still the case.

It's now sort of getting its act together in terms of where it's going, and that direction is basically north.

Factoring in a blocking high pressure system to the north, computer models have been nudging Jose's future northward journey westward. Kind of like Hurricane Irma's northward turn into Florida last week.

Nobody yet knows for sure if Jose will affect New England, and if so, to what extent. We do know that the Atlantic beaches are in for rough surf and rip currents from now on forward.

Eastern New England, especially, could be in for wind and rain from Jose during the middle of next week. How much depends on whether Jose comes close to or even over Cape Cod, or does it stay further east.

Some computer forecast models bring Jose ashore in southeastern New England. Many others do not. And there's wide disagreement on how strong Jose would be as it nears New England.

Here in Vermont, the effects, if they happen, will probably be less. Jose could bring us some rain. If it does, it's more likely to hit toward the east.

Lots of questions about Jose now, so sit tight and stay tuned.

Until we see what happens with Jose, Vermont will continue to get some nice late summer weather. The remnants of Irma brought in some rather high humidity, clouds and a few scattered showers and storms on Thursday.

Irma could squeeze out a couple more showers this afternoon. It will stay warm, with largely sunny days through early next week around here.

Meanwhile, a new tropical depression is forming way out in the eastern Atlantic. It'll be Tropical Storm Lee soon. It's also too early to determine where wannabe Lee will go and if it will affect any land.

Weird Hurricane Jose Path Joins Long List Of Other Weird Paths

The weird track of Hurricane Ginger in 1971.

Hurricanes are rarely straight forward. They intensify or weaken unexpectedly, veer off course, and especially just do weird loops, reversals and other odd things as they make their way across warm tropical waters.

Hurricane Jose is doing some oddball loops out in the Atlantic Ocean and is expected to continue meandering unpredictably out there.

In August, Hurricane Harvey tragically stalled over Texas, unleashing those unprecedented floods there. On its way through Atlantic islands on its way to the United States, Hurricane Irma took a brief  detour southwestward for awhile.

The path of hurricanes and typhoons re controlled and guided by the flow of upper level winds. In the tropics in the northern hemisphere, the winds generally go east to west, which explains why hurricanes often approach the United States from the east.

Troughs of low pressure often pick up hurricanes, guiding them northward.

But sometimes, these upper level steering currents are weak or non-existent. Which leaves hurricanes or typhoons with no guidance, so to speak. They become lost and meander aimlessly out there in the Atlantic. Or Pacific. Wherever they happen to be

There's been some classic oddballs in the past, so Jose is not that unusual.

In 1971 Hurricane Ginger formed northeast of the Bahamas, moved northeast into the central Atlantic Ocean, then abruptly reversed course and headed toward the southwest, then performed a tight loop, then continued southwestward and ended up near where it started northeast of the Bahamas. Then Ginger moved northwestward, hit North Carolina, then went southeastward out to sea and dies.

Phew!

The paths of all the Atlantic tropical cyclones in the
super busy year of 2005 show how erratic they usually are.

Hurricane Kyle in 2002 changed directions half a dozen times in its trek across the Atlantic.

In fact, most hurricanes have an erratic path. Just check out the map in this post of the supremely busy 2005 hurricane season. The path of all 28 storms that year in the Atlantic superimposed upon one another look like a big messy bowl of spaghetti.

The bottom line: Expect the unexpected with any tropical cyclone.

Irma Is Finally Dead; Some Parting Thoughts

A blown apart home in Naples, Florida after Irma.
Photo by Bryan Woolston/Reuters.

There's still some flooding going on in parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina this morning and millions of people are still without power, but what was once Hurricane Irma is dissipating over the northern Georgia and Alabama this morning.

It's interesting how the far southern and far northern parts of Irma's route though Florida and the Southeast seem to have had the worst effects of the storm.

That makes sense in the Florida Keys. After all, that's where Irma first came ashore in the United States.

But the storm had such a wide girth that it caused that record storm surge flood in Jacksonville, Florida and close to it in Charleston, South Carolina.

Some areas won't get electricity back for weeks. That's especially troublesome in Florida. Imagine enduring Florida's humidity for weeks with air conditioning. (The heat index in Miami yesterday, after the hurricane, was 103 degrees.)

I also hope there are some post-scripts. There were reports that a few employers were demanding employees either stay and not evacuate before the storm, or get right back to work or get in Big Trouble.

The manager at Jacksonville Pizza Hut told employees they had to work and could not evacuate until less than 24 hours before the storm. This despite the fact that everyone from Florida Gov. Rick Scott on down were telling people to evacuate early to avoid traffic jams, gas shortages and the storm itself.

We hope the manager at that Pizza Hut gets fired. (Pizza Hut corporate said the Jacksonville restaurant was not following company guidelines.)

I also want an update on management of a West Palm Beach apartment complex to not allow residents to board up windows ahead of the storm, despite the fact the complex had a bunch of storm shutters in storage.

The apartment complex management would not talk to media, but here's my theory: It was an insurance scam: My conspiracy mind says the apartment management wanted severe damage to the structure, then they would get an insurance write-off, then rebuild nicer so they could charge higher rents to subsequent tenants.

I hope someone finds out what was really going on.

These are all small aspects of a big story, a big storm. I guess there's so many moving parts, you've got to look at the trees, not the whole forest.

On another subject, forecasters are still watching Hurricane Jose out in the Atlantic. It's performing all these weird loop de loops out there. It seems like the majority of forecasts eventually take Jose out to sea and away from the United States, but a few computer models place it along the East Coast in about a week.

I'm not terribly alarmed about Jose at this point, but it's worth keeping our eyes on.

Here are some videos. The first shows the flooding in Charleston, South Carolina:



Here's a video from the Associated Press of the relentless storm surge coming into Jacksonville, Florida;



StormChasingVideo was out on the Florida Keys when Irma landfall and they came back with this video:


Finally, watch the first half of this video: Seth Meyers says everything about the hurricane that I wanted to. (The second half of the video is all politics, go ahead and watch if you want, but in the first half, Meyers nails it on Irma:

Dread In Florida As Hurricane Irma Menaces The State

Devastation in St. Martin.

Now it's inevitable that giant Hurricane Irma will pummel Florida. 

Oh, yes, there's still picky little questions about its exact track, and exactly how strong Irma will be when it hits Florida, but we know now Florida is going to have a terrible disaster.

At least 500,000 Floridians have fled or are fleeing inland ahead of the storm. So, too, are thousands of people in coastal Georgia and South Carolina.

Florida is experiencing gas shortages because so many people are either on the road, getting out of dodge, or stocking up on supplies of fuel for generators, or gas for their cars because they know service stations will be, well, knocked out of service by Irma.

Some of those picky details on Irma: It's still unclear if the giant hurricane will score a direct hit on Miami, or will it smash the Florida Keys instead. In some sense, it doesn't matter because almost all of Florida is going to experience hurricane force winds. But I suppose 75 mph is better than 150 mph.

As of this morning, Hurricane Irma had "weakened" to a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 155 mph. As I noted yesterday, this "weakening" means nothing. Irma will remain a powerful hurricane.

It's possible Irma will cross the northern coast of Cuba before striking Florida. That would be bad for Cuba, of course, but slightly good for Florida, as winds would decrease further - but still be terribly destructive.

However, sea water temperatures are very hot - much above normal - in the path of the storm through the Bahamas and south and east of Florida. Very warm ocean water is jet fuel for hurricanes, and Irma will probably take advantage of that and stay strong.

Right now, the National Hurricane Center is guessing Irma's top sustained winds will be near 150 mph when it reaches Florida early Sunday morning. By the way, tropical storm force winds will arrive well before then.

Irma is a huge hurricane in size as well as strength, so its wind field is huge, too. A bigger wind field means a bigger area is going to get hurricane force winds.

The biggest killer in hurricanes is a storm surge. The low pressure in a hurricane causes sea levels to rise, plus the hurricane's winds push massive amounts of water toward shore. Add enormous, battering waves to the mix and you understand why states like Florida, Georgia and South Carolina are kicking residents out of their coastal homes and sending them inland.

From left to right, Hurricanes Katia, Irma and Jose menace
the Atlantic Ocean

The chances of surviving a massive storm surge are low, and you can't send rescuers out in a Category 4 hurricane to try to save you. People idiotic enough to stay put in their South Florida beachfront home are on their own.

The storm surge heights are forecast to be five to 10 feet above normal high tide in the Florida Keys. The highest point in the Keys is just 18 feet above sea level, and the vast majority of the islands have elevations of ten feet or less.

Meanwhile, Miami Beach sometimes floods in just a full moon and no storms. (Sea level rise, largely caused by climate change, causes that.) Now imagine the six-foot storm surge forecast for low-lying Miami Beach. Yeah, scary.

"This is a catastrophic storm that our state has never seen," Florida Governor Rick Scott said.  

Meanwhile, Irma continues to island hop on its way to Florida, trashing the Turks and Caicos yesterday, and the Bahamas today and tomorrow.

So far, at least 14 people have died at the hands of Irma. This number will go up.

JOSE AND KATIA

Meanwhile, Hurricanes Jose and Katia are causing nightmares for other people, particularly in the northern Leeward Islands and in Mexico.

Hurricane Jose has strengthened to a major hurricane with sustained winds of 125 mph. Jose will come close to islands such as Barbuda and St. Martin, which were devastated by Hurricane Irma.

Tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches are up for those islands. I don't know what people are going to do there as so many homes have been blasted away by Irma. Where will they go for shelter?

Here's hoping Jose veers sharply to the north and largely misses those places. We'll see.

Hurricane Katia is still menacing the Mexican east coast. It's sustained winds were 90 mph as of early this morning and more strengthening is forecast before it makes landfall tonight.

Like Mexico needs another disaster. You might have heard about that huge 8.1-magnitude earthquake last night.


This is one of the gloomier weather blog posts I've filed in a long time. But, unfortunately, there's a lot of gloomy news out there.

Irma Mows Down Islands, Still Eyes Florida. Also, Hurricanes Jose, Katia

Extreme damage on the island of Barbuda after
Hurricane Irma.

We're all watching helplessly as immense Hurricane Irma takes down one island after another as it mows its way slowly toward the Bahamas and probably Florida.

At last check, at least 10 people have died in the storm, and that toll is sure to rise.

ABC's Good Morning America quoted Gaston Browne, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda as saying damage on Barbuda is "unprecedented" and the island is "barely habitable."

Antigua suffered somewhat less damage than Barbuda. However, other news reports describe the island of St. Martin as 95 percent destroyed.

Scary videos of the destruction are at the bottom of this post. It must have been so frightening for the people caught up in this. Like being in the middle of a tornado. Although a tornado lasts just minutes. This wend on for hours.

There was damage in Puerto Rico, too, but luckily Irma's eyewall, the area near the center of the storm with the most vicious winds, skirted just to the north of the islands.

The Turks and Caicos are going to get nailed by Irma tonight and the Bahamas get it Friday and Saturday. Then we get to Florida. More on that in a second.

Irma early this morning still had sustained winds of 180 mph. It's been that strong for at least 33 hours, a new record long time for an Atlantic hurricane.

Extreme damage on St. Martin from Hurricane Irma

Irma looks like it could start a "weakening" trend starting this morning, but don't focus on that word "weakening." It's still very likely going to be an extremely powerful Category 4 or 5 hurricane all lthe way to the vicinity of Florida.

FLORIDA'S NIGHTMARE

Mandatory evacuations are underway in parts of Florida, particularly the Keys and areas around Miami Beach. Store shelves have been cleared of supplies like bottled water, batteries and plywood. Millions of Florida residents are either hunkering down or fleeing as I write this.

While the National Hurricane Center has for days been saying Florida is a potential target, they are now confident enough in their forecasts that they'll likely issue a hurricane watch for at least parts of the state later this morning.

Irma will begin to be felt in Florida starting Saturday, but to what extent?

That's still unclear.

The National Hurricane Center projects Irma to make landfall in the southeastern corner of Florida, near Miami early Sunday morning.

But remember, that Miami projection is just the center of the so-called cone of uncertainty. Various computer models put Irma in different locations this weekend, as is typical of trying to forecast a hurricane that's still three days away.

It's pretty clear Irma will take a sharp turn toward the north, toward Florida this weekend, but we don't know exactly when it will make that turn.

Basically, that means Irma could theoretically go up the west side of Florida, plow through the middle of the state all the way to Georgia, or run up right along the east coast of Florida, or in a best-case scenario for Florida, move northward off the east coast of the state.

Of course, if Irma did that, it would probably just slam into the Carolinas, causing plenty of havoc there.

VERMONT IMPACTS?

Since this is a blog based in Vermont, I'm sure some readers are wondering if Irma will eventually have any impact in the Green Mountain State.

The short answer is, nobody knows.

I'm just speculating at this point, but a worst case scenario for Vermont would be a dying Irma going right overhead, unleashing heavy rains that would cause flooding.

We've had quite a bit of rain over the past week, so soils are wet and can't absorb as much water as they could have a week ago, when we were having a dry spell.

But still, that worst case scenario is just me being Mr. Doom and Gloom. I'm sure there's a chance we'll get some rain out of Irma, but right now, there's no point in forecasting anytbing for Irma in Vermont.

After all, if Irma does have any impact here, it won't happen for another week or so.

JOSE AND KATIA

For the first time since 2010, there are a total of three hurricanes simultaneously spinning in the Atlantic Ocean. Irma, of course.

Then there's Jose. And there's bad news about this one today.

Jose's top sustained winds are 90 mph. It's expected to strengthen and peak in intensity at about 125 mph just as it's passing over or near the northern Leeward Islands. That, of course, is where Barbuda and other islands devastated by Irma are.

The National Hurricane Center expects hurricane and tropical storm watches will be issued for some of these islands later this morning.

I don't think survivors on those islands can take another hurricane. Here's hoping that it veers further north, and spares these islands. We'll see.

Hurricane Katia this morning was lurking off the Mexican east coast. Top sustained winds with Katia are 80 mph. Since the storm is sitting over very warm water and there isn't much in the way of upper level winds to tear it apart, Katia will probably strengthen.

Katia is basically stationary now, but is expected to start moving southwestward soon, then slam into the central Mexican east coast around Saturday.

Here's a heartbreaking video from Barbuda:



Here's some extreme winds on St. Martin from Irma: