Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have laid their claim to massive destruction, but the hurricane season isn’t letting up yet.
According to new reports, Tropical Storm Maria has formed in the Atlantic ocean and is slated to take the same path that Irma ran, creating a back-to-back hit for the areas that faced Irma’s wrath last week. According to the National Hurricane Center, the tropical storm will soon form into Hurricane Maria as it reaches the Leeward Islands sometime in the first half of the week to come as the islands of Antigua, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, and Barbuda have all been issued a Hurricane watch while a tropical storm watch is in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Currently, Maria is approximately 590 miles east of the Lesser Antilles, and is approaching the region at a speed of 19 mph, boasting wind speeds of up to 50 mph.
All the while, Maria is also joined by Tropical Storm Lee, a system forming about 720 miles west of the African country of Cape Verde. Lee, however is only expected to decrease in strength and downgrade to a tropical depression by Wednesday without affecting land says the National Hurricane Center.
With Maria presenting the most danger, it likely won’t bring about the devastation that her predecessor Irma brought. Nonetheless, Maria is slated to carry in up to eight inches of rain in the northern Leeward Islands, 20 inches in the central and southern Leewards islands, and a walloping three to five-foot storm surge. On top of all of this the United States mainland also faces the arrival of Hurricane Jose, a category 1 storm just 500 miles off the coast of North Carolina. Jose isn’t expected to make landfall as a Hurricane, but is still slated to bring about life threatening rip currents along the east coast along with a heavy downpour for the Northeastern United States.
While rescue and recovery efforts get underway, these new systems, namely Maria, will definitely put a devastating hold on things. Be sure to keep your eyes and ears open for new updates on the 2017 hurricane season.