Hurricane Maria Track: Will It Hit New Jersey?

After Hurricane Maria left behind a tattered Puerto Rico without power Thursday morning bruised by Category 4 strength winds and up to 35 inches of rain, forecasters warned the storm currently packing winds around 115 mph will likely follow the same path as Hurricane Jose once it leaves the Caribbean. While Jose passed off the coast, it did cause high surf and battered some beaches along the Jersey Shore earlier this week.

While this is good news for Florida as it continues to grapple with widespread damage from Hurricane Irma, forecasters say the storm could affect the Eastern Seaboard, however it's still too early to know to what extreme.

By 8 a.m. Thursday, Maria had devastated the American territory of Puerto Rico and was off the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic, according to the National Weather Service. It is expected to continue moving northwest over the island, then head for the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Southeastern Bahamas, the NWS said. Maria is currently a Category 3 storm, but it it expected to strengthen in the next day or two.

"Following a direct hit on Puerto Rico, Maria is likely to remain a major hurricane as it moves northwestward on Thursday," AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski said.

According to a Thursday forecast by AccuWeather, Maria is not expected to turn westward toward Florida after it pushes through the Caribbean, but instead will likely curve north, remaining offshore along the southeastern U.S. coast by the middle part of next week. How far to the west Maria tracks will depend on the strength of a high pressure area and storms in the Southeast and the Midwest, the weather service says.

"After the storm passes the Southeast Bahamas, some models suggest it could find an escape route out to sea, remaining offshore from the East Coast, but it is way too early to sound the all-clear," write the Capital Weather Gang.

“During the middle to latter part of next week, possibilities range from the hurricane remaining offshore to an encounter with the U.S. mainland from the Carolinas on north. A turn toward the northeast could bring Maria close to Bermuda,” AccuWeather said.

Meanwhile, a non-tropical storm forming over the Great Lakes could prove to be a game changer in determining Maria’s track in the days ahead, forecasters say.

“On one hand, a fast-moving, non-tropical storm could kick Maria out to sea or at least keep it offshore,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams said. “On the other hand, the slow-moving, non-tropical storm could pull Maria close to the coast or perhaps onshore. If this happens, there is the potential for wind and heavy rain in part of the eastern U.S. or Atlantic Canada should the systems converge.”

By Deb Belt and Kara Seymour/ Patch staff

Images via the National Weather Service, AccuWeather