Don’t freak out about Hurricane Jose; storm likely not coming here

Take a deep breath, Florida: Hurricane Jose is likely not coming for us.

Jose, a Category 2 storm, is expected to make a small clockwise loop in the Atlantic Ocean over the next three days, which could potentially put it on track to hit Florida, according to some models. But don’t count on that — most models forecast Jose will fall apart in the Atlantic.

“Right now there is no concern for any land including the United States,” said Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the National Hurricane Center. “No one needs to be freaking out about Jose.”

As of 11 a.m. Monday, Jose was located about 305 miles north northeast of Grand Turk Island with maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour. The storm is moving north at 9 miles per hour and is expected to turn toward the northeast Monday night, and move slowly southeast Tuesday and Tuesday night.

The Hurricane Center will continue monitoring its progression, Feltgen said.

Some weakening is forecasted for Jose in the next 48 hours, the National Hurricane Center said. Swells caused by storm will affect portions of Haiti, Dominican Republic, the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos over the next couple of days.

So, does that mean we can take the shutters down?

“I took mine down,” Feltgen said.

This story was originally published September 11, 2017 at 3:20 PM with the headline "Don’t freak out about Hurricane Jose; storm likely not coming here."