Hurricane Maria is currently an extremely powerful tropical cyclone making landfall on Dominica and threatening the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. The thirteenth named storm, seventh hurricane, fourth major hurricane, and second Category 5 hurricane of the unusually active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, Maria formed on September 16 out of a tropical wave that was monitored by the National Hurricane Center starting on September 14. It is the third major hurricane in a row to threaten the Leeward Islands with a direct strike or major impacts within two weeks, after Hurricane Irma caused catastrophic damage there and Jose, then a Category 4 hurricane, passed dangerously close just days after. At 23:30 UTC on September 18, Maria strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane, therefore making the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season the first since 2007 to feature two Category 5 hurricanes, and one of only six Atlantic hurricane seasons to feature two or more Category 5 hurricanes, as well as only the second (after 2007) to feature two hurricanes making landfall at Category 5 intensity.
In the Atlantic Ocean:
Hurricane Maria (2005), a Category three storm that never approached land in its tropical stage
Hurricane Maria (2011), formed in the eastern Atlantic; achieved the record for being the second earliest 13th Atlantic storm, with only 2005 Maria forming earlier in its season
Hurricane Maria (2017), a powerful category 5 that is currently threatening the Leeward Islands, being the third major hurricane to threaten the islands in a 2 week span.
In the Western Pacific Ocean:
Tropical Storm Maria (2000) (T0013, 21W) – a severe tropical storm that made a landfall in southern China
Typhoon Maria (2006) (T0607, 09W) – tracked just south and east of Japan
Tropical Storm Maria (2012) (T1222, 23W)
Upon the initiation of the National Hurricane Center (NHC)'s first advisories for the system that would become Tropical Storm Maria on the morning of September 16, the government of France issued tropical storm watches for the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, while St. Lucia issued a tropical storm watch for its citizens, and the government of Barbados issued a similar watch for Dominica. Barbados would later that day declare a tropical storm watch for its citizens and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The government of Antigua and Barbuda issued Hurricane watches for the islands of Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat by the time of the NHC's second advisory which declared Maria a tropical storm. Evacuation orders were issued in Puerto Rico in advance of Maria, and officials announced that 450 shelters would be opened beginning during the afternoon of September 18.
