Hurricane Jose to threaten rain, wind across Leeward Islands following devastation from Irma
Days after Irma devastated the Leeward Islands, another hurricane is making a close pass to the islands.
Jose, which formed into a hurricane Wednesday afternoon, is tracking to the northeast of the northern Leeward Islands and will continue to do so into Saturday night.
Jose strengthened to a Category 4 storm Friday morning, making it a major hurricane. Jose is third major hurricane of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season.
Jose passed through the northern Leeward Islands early Saturday night, and is expected to continue northwestward away from any land masses.
“Jose is relatively small and is not expected to become a large hurricane in size,” AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski said.
The size of Jose kept the worst impacts largely away from the northern Leeward Islands, which are the same islands that were devastated by Category 5 Hurricane Irma just days ago.
The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda described Barbuda as "barely habitable" on Wednesday afternoon due to the catastrophic damage left behind by Irma.
This round of heavy rain only exacerbated ongoing flooding.
Strong winds also lead to additional damage to structures and blew debris around.
Any type of impacts from a tropical system will only further endanger lives on these islands, following the devastation from Irma.
Beyond the Leeward Islands, Jose will likely get caught up in a lack of steering flow, causing the hurricane to decrease its speed.
"It's possible Jose might slow down and stall just south of Bermuda early next week as steering flow around the system drops off considerably," Kottlowski said.
During this time, Jose will bring disruptions only to shipping interests in the region. However, rough surf and rip currents will batter Bermuda.
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