Hurricane Maria has begun to weaken as it moves over the cold wake left behind by Hurricane Jose, and is now a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. As of 11:00 p.m. EDT Sunday, Maria was centered near 30.0°N 73.0°W, and was moving northward at about 9 mph. Maximum sustained winds were 80 knots (90 mph), with an estimated minimum pressure of 950 mb. Additional slow weakening is likely as Maria is moving over cooler waters and wind shear is expected to increase. Maria is likely to continue weakening slowly during the next several days as it continues on a northward path, before it makes its expected east-northeastward turn on Wednesday. Since Maria is expected to possibly bring tropical storm force winds to portions of the North Carolina coast, a Tropical Storm Watch has been issued from North of Surf City northward to the North Carolina/Virginia border, Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, and a Storm Surge Watch has been issued from Cape Lookout to Duck. Even though Maria is not expected to make landfall, direct impacts (such as beach erosion, rough surf and rip currents) are likely along the coast of North Carolina and mid-Atlantic, especially Northeastern North Carolina.

Over the open Atlantic, Tropical Storm Lee strengthened into the eighth hurricane of the season very early on Sunday and is maintaining an impressive appearance. As of 11:00 p.m. EDT Sunday, Lee was centered near 31.1°N 49.5°W, and was moving east-southeastward at about 3 mph. Maximum sustained winds were 80 knots (90 mph), with an estimated minimum pressure of 980 mb. Lee is an unusually small hurricane, and it’s possible the intensity could be higher than estimated. Lee could strengthen a little more in the short term, but as it moves over its own cold wake and wind shear increases in a couple of days, a weakening trend is likely to begin. Lee is no threat to land.

In the Eastern Pacific, Tropical Storm Pilar remains active, and has changed little in strength since yesterday as it parallels the coast of Mexico. As of 9:00 p.m. MDT (11:00 p.m. EDT), Pilar was centered near 21.8°N 106.3°W and was moving northward at about 9 mph. Maximum sustained winds were 35 knots (40 mph), with an estimated minimum pressure of 1003 mb. Pilar is not likely to strengthen due to its proximity to land and expected increase in wind shear.

I will be back with another post tomorrow.