Current wind map
After the devastating passage of Hurricane Irma, a new hurricane threatens the Lesser Antilles, in the Caribbean. Hurricane Maria. Its impact is expected in the next few hours, in this area whose effects of Irma were so devastating. Maria, which was a tropical storm, has strengthened in recent hours to reach a Category 1 hurricane. Furthermore, everything indicates that in the course of Maria will keep getting stronger, and there are warnings again in Puerto Rico, which also suffered significant damage in the past.
Everything will depend on how it evolves and whether it ultimately "decides" to change its trajectory. For now, it is expected to cross the island of Puerto Rico, and that it will do so at a higher category than the current one. Hurricane season is not over yet, which is why new ones continue to occur. You can find more information about hurricanes in the Hurricane season and their characteristics.
Alarms in the region and the Fujiwhara effect
Hurricane Maria, forecast within 72 hours
According to the US National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Maria is expected to hit the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean this Monday afternoon. They also add that over the next 48 hours it will continue to get stronger and strongerThere are warnings in Guadeloupe, Dominica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts, Nevis, and Martinique. Considering that many of these areas were already hit by Hurricane Irma, the situation is even more complicated. Among the islands are Antigua and Barbuda, where the situation was devastating and comparable to the impact of Hurricane Maria on Dominica. You can read more about this at here.
There is also another active hurricane in the Atlantic, Hurricane Jose. For now, it does not pose a threat, however, the fact that two hurricanes are so close together could lead to what is known as "Fujiwhara effect". Depending on the model, the forecasts may or may not lead to this effect. To understand what it is about, it comes to be like a kind of "strange" dance between hurricanes that have come close enough to each other. If you are interested in learning more about this phenomenon, we recommend reading about the hurricane behavior in the recent past.
