A Weaker Maria Flirting With Coastal Sections of the Mid-Atlantic (credit: GOES-16 and College of DuPage)

DISCUSSION: As time moves forward with Hurricane Maria, there are now finally definitive signs that this storm is beginning to enter its final stage of gradual weakening.  During the course of the day on Sunday (09/24), Hurricane Maria began to lose a substantial amount of deeper convection in and around the center of the core circulation.  As a result of this convective drop-off, there was also a corresponding drop-off in the intensity of the sustained maximum wind speeds in and around the eye of this weakening hurricane.  It has lost so much convection in and around the center of its circulation, that Hurricane Maria may in fact be able to be downgraded to a tropical storm within the next 24 to 48 hours (depending on various environmental factors and such).  Furthermore, any potential impacts to coastal sections of the Mid-Atlantic will certainly be substantially mitigated by the fact that this tropical cyclone will continue to weaken as it heads further north with time due to increasing amounts of vertical wind shear.  Therefore, despite this storm currently being on and likely  will continue on this current weakening trend, interests along the Carolinas should still keep a watchful eye on the progress of what is now a Category 1 Hurricane Maria just in case it takes a more northwest turn over the next couple of days as it heads north.

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©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz