Here we go again: Another hurricane, Jose, threatens the East Coast of the U.S.
As Texas and Florida work to repair damage left from hurricanes Harvey and Irma, a new tropical weather threat is emerging from the Atlantic Ocean. This time, it's the Mid-Atlantic and northeastern states that are threatened with either a grazing, or possibly even a direct hit by a powerful storm midweek next week.
Tropical Storm Jose, which is forecast to re-intensify into a hurricane later on Friday, was about 485 miles southwest of Bermuda as of 11 a.m. ET. The storm is forecast to gradually intensify while moving to the northwest, then north, and at some point, turn northeast parallel to the U.S. coastline.
In recent days, computer models have been trending westward with the storm track, and the National Hurricane Center has placed New York City and coastal Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts in the 5-day cone of uncertainty.
There are many variables that will affect soon-to-be Hurricane Jose's path, including its intensity, and the steering currents provided by the upper level winds in the vicinity of the storm.
The farther north the storm goes, the more likely it is that upper level winds and cooler ocean waters will take a toll on Hurricane Jose's intensity. In fact, the storm may undergo a transition to a powerful, non-tropical storm system as it nears New England on Wednesday and Thursday of next week, according to the Hurricane Center.
The clearest threat that Jose poses to the East Coast is in the form of high surf, coastal flooding, rip currents, and beach erosion that will batter coastal locations from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras.
Here's how the Hurricane Center summarized the uncertainty involved in the forecast:
Although the center of Jose is currently forecast to pass well east of the North Carolina coast early next week, tropical-storm-force winds are expected to extend well west of the center and could approach the North Carolina Outer Banks on Monday. Farther north along the U.S. east coast, it is too soon to determine if any other direct impacts from Jose will occur. Interests along the U.S. east coast from North Carolina to New England should monitor the progress of Jose during the next several days.
The bottom line is that everyone from North Carolina to Massachusetts should keep a close eye on storm forecasts during the next few days, as there is still time to prepare for possible storm impacts, such as high winds and waves.
No matter what, Hurricane Jose is going to be a challenging forecast for meteorologists, many of whom are already operating at a sleep deficit after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
Andrew Freedman is Mashable's Senior Editor for Science and Special Projects. Prior to working at Mashable, Freedman was a Senior Science writer for Climate Central. He has also worked as a reporter for Congressional Quarterly and Greenwire/E&E Daily. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, online at The Weather Channel, and washingtonpost.com, where he wrote a weekly climate science column for the "Capital Weather Gang" blog. He has provided commentary on climate science and policy for Sky News, CBC Radio, NPR, Al Jazeera, Sirius XM Radio, PBS NewsHour, and other national and international outlets. He holds a Masters in Climate and Society from Columbia University, and a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
