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Category 5 Hurricane Irma on Track Toward the Florida Keys, and Will Hurricane Jose Threaten Long Is


Hurricane Irma is back to a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph with gusts to 190 mph. While it is expected to hit the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane, it will still be an extremely dangerous storm that can bring catastrophic destruction for areas that experience the eye wall with the maximum winds. The path is expected to take it almost directly over Key West and then ride northward to north-northwest along the southwest coast of Florida (see image below for official track forecast from National Hurricane Center).

EDIT: Looking at the latest recon data from the hurricane hunters as of 4:52 AM, it appears that the winds have come down. I expect it to be a Category 4 as of the 5 AM advisory.

Hurricane Jose is on the verge of Category 5 status as well, but it is expected to slowly weaken and then meander and loop around in the Atlantic Ocean for a while as the steering currents break down. However, there are indications that Hurricane Jose could eventually get close to Long Island and New England. The GFS has the storm brushing Long Island and passing just immediately east of Cape Cod around September 20th. The Euro, which only goes out 10 days, has Hurricane Jose also heading northward off the east coast of the United States. It's much too early to know where Hurricane Jose will go, so at this point, we just have to keep watching it.

The following image shows the latest information on Hurricane Irma (the 5 AM advisory is due out shortly though):

The following image shows the location of Hurricane Jose on September 20th from the GFS model:

Image from tropicaltidbits.com


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