File:Hurricane Jose (MODIS 2017-09-13).jpg

English: On September 11, 2017, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of Hurricane Jose spinning in the Atlantic Ocean. The image showed the storm north of the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico while the Bahamas sits under rain bands. Jose had lost its central eye and appeared somewhat elongated due to interaction with wind shear from the north.

Hurricane Jose formed from a tropical wave that first appeared off the western coast of Africa on August 31. By September 5 the system had organized, prompting the National Hurricane Center (NHC) to issue its first advisory and give the system the name of Tropical Storm Jose. By September 6, Jose had strengthened to a hurricane and on September 7 maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (193 km/h) brought Hurricane Jose into Category 3 strength according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Later that same day, Jose reached Category 4 strength as it was taking dead aim at the Leeward Islands, threatening the same areas that Hurricane Irma devastated only days earlier. Maximum sustained winds peaked at 155 mph (250 km/h) late on September 7.

By September 8 Hurricane Jose mercifully turned away from the Leeward Islands as winds began to drop. It brushed past Barbuda on its way to the western Atlantic Ocean, but spared the ravaged island much worse damage than the 90-95% destruction reported after Irma.

On September 12,Hurricane Jose still possessed Category 1 maximum sustained winds, but it was barely hanging on to that status with 75 mph (120 km/h) winds. According to the NCH, the storm seemed to be consolidating and could potentially restrengthen somewhat over the next 24 hours or so, but adverse conditions suggest that Jose should follow a path of generally weakening as it rotates over the open ocean before heading on a north easterly course over the ocean.