Will Hurricane Jose Or Tropical Storm Katia Hit Florida?

As Hurricane Irma continued upward through Florida toward Georgia Monday, Hurricane Jose lingered in its wake. Beginning as a Category 4 storm, Jose was downgraded to a Category 2 Sunday — a lesser storm, but one that could still bring destructive winds and rain.

Hurricane Jose remained about 255 miles northeast of the Caribbean island of Grand Turk Monday morning, moving north-northwest. It remained unclear, exactly, which path Jose would take in the coming days, though forecasts predicted it would stick around throughout the week and likely longer.

Hurricane Jose was expected to stay relatively stagnant in the coming days thanks to high pressure that will prevent it from moving east. Instead, the storm would probably make a loop over the Atlantic Ocean south of Bermuda, according to the Weather Channel. Jose would likely be only 300 miles away from its current location come Friday morning.

Experts continued monitoring the course of the hurricane to determine where it might go in the next few days and whether it might hit the continental United States. The expected looping pattern means it might pass close to the eastern Bahamas later in the week. As for effects in the mainland U.S., forecasts so far expected only tumultuous surf and rip current conditions on the east coast. Forecasters also noted that much of Jose’s path will depend on where Irma, now a tropical storm, ends up.

Destructive Hurricane Irma was downgraded to a tropical storm after wreaking havoc in Florida, though it continued to bring 70 mph winds as it moved north, according to the National Hurricane Center. As it continued on its path toward Georgia, the storm was expected to weaken.

Elsewhere, Hurricane Katia was also downgraded to a tropical storm after lashing Mexico and leaving two people dead. Katia struck the east coast of Mexico Saturday morning as a Category 1 storm — bringing destructive winds and torrential rain right on the heels of an 8.1 earthquake that left at least 90 people dead. Tropical storm Katia was also expected to weaken relatively quickly in the coming days.