Irma leaves a trail of destruction across the Caribbean, Southeast
Tranquil local weather will continue across the area as the late summer cool down slowly begins. The high temperatures in the mid-80s that Boston has experienced over the past several days will not abate much; high temperatures will cool into the 70s into next week and small amounts of rain may fall Friday as the remnants of Hurricane Irma’s moisture drift by the region. Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys and on the Florida Peninsula on Sunday, rapidly weakening as it moved northwards into Georgia and Alabama. The storm dissipated completely over the Southeast on Tuesday, ending its approximately two week journey that began in the eastern Atlantic. The storm set numerous intensity records over its lifespan. Irma is the 2nd strongest recorded Atlantic hurricane by wind speed, and the strongest storm so far worldwide in 2017.
The storm killed nearly 70 people and caused over 60 billion USD in damage. Its destruction extended well beyond the coasts; even hundreds of miles inland, over 1.5 million people lost power in Georgia as the storm wound down over the weekend. Thankfully, computer models currently do not show any significant new tropical threats over the next week or so; in the long term, there is a non-zero chance that Hurricane Jose may impact parts of the East Coast. At the moment however, that possibility appears quite unlikely.