FLORIDA, United States, Tuesday September 12, 2017 – Hurricane Jose, which had initially threatened to follow up Hurricane Irma’s destructive visit to the Caribbean with Category 5 winds continues to weaken and could lose its hurricane status by tonight.

That’s according to the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) in Miami which said this morning that “some slight weakening is forecast, and Jose could become a tropical storm by tonight”.

In the latest advisory at 11 a.m., Jose was barely a Category 1 hurricane, carrying maximum sustained winds near 75 miles per hour. (A Category 1 hurricane has maximum sustained winds between 74 and 95 miles per hour).

It was located about 450 miles north northeast of Grand Turk Island, Turks and Caicos, and 645 miles north northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and was moving to the east at five miles per hour.

“A turn to the southeast and south at a slow forward speed is expected over the next couple of days. On the forecast track, the centre of Jose will remain well to the east-northeast of the Bahamas through Wednesday,” the NHC said.