12 September, 2017
"Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 60 miles per hour with higher gusts".
Hurricane season typically begins hitting its stride in early September, so forecasters are expecting the Atlantic to generate even more hurricanes.
Category 1 is the NHC's weakest hurricane designation.
There are now three hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean. The storm was headed toward Puerto Rico where it was expected to bring "life threatening wind, storm surges and rainfall", the National Weather Service said Wednesday.
Hurricane Irma is churning west across the Atlantic, putting parts of the Caribbean on watch and prompting warnings for the us mainland to be prepared should the storm head that way. Jose will not make the same land impact as Irma, though its rains could worsen any ongoing flooding on islands already hit.
Jose is expected to be a major hurricane by Friday.
Behind Irma, Jose strengthened into a hurricane this afternoon.
A hurricane warning has been issued for Mexico as Hurricane Katia is set to strike the country by early Saturday. The government of Antigua has discontinued the Tropical Storm Watch for Antigua and the British Virgin Islands.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for some of those same islands: Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barthelemy and Sint Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius.
Jose is forecast to continue on a west-northwest track hot on the heels of Irma.
Beyond the Leeward Islands, Jose will likely get caught up in a lack of steering flow, causing the hurricane to decrease its speed. Some of the worst hurricanes start as puffs of unstable air there and chug west, gaining strength over the warm open Atlantic.
At this time, Jose is not expected to follow the same path as Irma. As of now, Jose has winds of 75 miles per hour, though it is quickly strengthening.
Strong winds would also lead to additional damage to structures and blow debris around, especially if the center of Jose tracks close enough to the islands.
