Hurricane Maria
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Current storm status
Category 3 hurricane (1-min mean) |
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| As of: | 5:00 p.m AST (21:00 UTC) September 21 | ||
| Location: |
20°48′N 69°48′W / 20.8°N 69.8°W ± 15 nm About 90 mi (145 km) NE of Puerto Plata About 95 mi (155 km) ESE of Grand Turk Island |
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| Sustained winds: | 105 kn (120 mph; 195 km/h) (1-min mean) gusting to 130 kn (150 mph; 240 km/h) |
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| Pressure: | 960 mbar (hPa; 28.35 inHg) | ||
| Movement: | NW at 8 kn (9 mph; 15 km/h) | ||
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Hurricane Maria is a powerful tropical cyclone which recently made landfall on Puerto Rico as a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale, and is currently threatening the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Leeward Islands, and the Dominican Republic. The thirteenth named storm, seventh hurricane, fourth major hurricane, and the second Category 5 hurricane of the unusually active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, Maria formed on September 16 out of a tropical wave that was monitored by the National Hurricane Center from September 13. It is the third major hurricane in a row to threaten the Leeward Islands with a direct strike or major impacts within two weeks, after Hurricane Irma caused catastrophic damage there and Jose, then a Category 4 hurricane, passed dangerously close just days after. By 23:30 UTC on September 18, Maria had strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane, making the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season the first since 2007 to feature two Category 5 hurricanes, and one of only six Atlantic hurricane seasons to feature two or more Category 5 hurricanes in the satellite era, as well as only the second (after 2007) to feature two hurricanes making landfall at Category 5 intensity. In addition, it is the tenth most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, and has the lowest pressure worldwide in 2017. At 10:35 UTC on September 20, Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico as a high-end Category 4 hurricane with winds of 155 mph (250 km/h), becoming the strongest to hit the territory since the 1928 San Felipe hurricane, as well as the most intense hurricane to hit the territory in recorded history, and the most intense to make landfall anywhere in the United States (including locations outside of the Lower 48) since Hurricane Camille in 1969.
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