Tropical Storm Jose is bringing dangerous surf, rip currents, and wind to the East Coast
Tropical Storm Jose is slowly meandering off the East Coast of the US, bringing heavy rain, dangerous surf, and tropical storm-force winds to parts of the Northeast.
Jose was downgraded to a tropical storm late Tuesday night and continues to affect much of the East Coast, according to the latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center.
Tropical storm warnings are in effect for parts of New England from Woods Hole, Massachusetts to Sagamore Beach Massachusetts, including Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Cape Cod, as of 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Those areas can expect tropical storm conditions within the next 12 hours.
Jose's center will most likely stay out at sea, but the NHC reported that the coast is feeling dangerous surf and rip currents because of the storm. Swells from Jose have also affected the Bahamas and Bermuda.
Even if Jose stays offshore as expected, parts of the coast and Mid-Atlantic are expected to experience powerful gusts of wind, heavy rainfall with isolated flooding, and dangerous ocean conditions, including coastal flooding.
Jose was at one point a powerful Category 4 storm. It menaced parts of the Caribbean that had already been devastated by Hurricane Irma but turned north and spun a loop in the Atlantic. That weakened Jose to tropical storm status, but an Air Force "hurricane hunter" plane found that the storm strengthened again over the weekend.
As of 2 p.m. ET Wednesday, Jose had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, with some higher gusts, and was moving northeast at 8 mph. Gradual weakening is expected over the next couple of days.
This year's Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually active, and we're just now at the peak time for storm activity.
Hurricane Maria, a powerful storm, is currently moving through the Caribbean. The storm caused major destruction on the islands of Dominica, Puerto Rico, and St. Croix, and is moving near the Dominican Republic now.
Jose is a particularly big storm, so if it stays where it is, that could help keep Maria away from the East Coast of the US.
Rebecca Harrington and Mark Abadi contributed to this post.
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