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Hurricane Maria is the strongest and most devastating storm to hit the island of Puerto Rico in modern memory.。

The storm roared ashore, making landfall on the U.S. territory on Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, bringing extreme flooding to the island that is home to 3.4 million people.。

SEE ALSO:Hurricane Maria seen swirling from space in new video
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Communications are mostly down in Puerto Rico, with reports that the entire island was without power as of Wednesday due to the storm's extreme winds and the territory's aging power systems.。

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"Maria brought extreme rainfall amounts to large portions of Puerto Rico that caused record or near-record flash flooding. Numerous stations in Puerto Rico recorded rainfall amounts in excess of 10 inches," meteorologist Jeff Masters wrote for the Weather Underground.。

The storm weakened somewhat on Wednesday, but regained intensity as a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds clocked at 115 miles per hour as of the most recent update from the National Hurricane Center Thursday morning. 。

Photos of the devastation in Puerto Rico are now trickling out from the island.。

Photos of the devastation in Puerto Rico are now trickling out from the island.。

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Hurricane Maria is dealing a glancing blow to the Dominican Republic Thursday, bringing a storm surge to the island.
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While the short-term forecast for Hurricane Maria is quite clear, the long-term fate of the storm is fuzzier. It's still unclear exactly where the storm will go next and whether it will, in fact, impact the mainland United States. 。

Depiction of track projections from the European model for Hurricane Maria.Credit: U. Albany/Brian Tang。

The clockwise circulation of air around a sprawling area of high pressure across the Western Atlantic, plus the counterclockwise flow around meandering Tropical Storm Jose, should provide an onramp for the storm and carry it harmlessly out to sea.
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However, computer models may not have a good handle on how long Tropical Storm Jose is going to linger off the coast of New England, bringing gusty winds and high waves to the coast.。

If Jose were to lift northeast, away from the U.S., just a day or two sooner than forecast, it could allow Maria to crawl up the Eastern seaboard, and possibly even make landfall in the Mid-Atlantic or New England.。

Sea surface temperature anomalies, showing the cooler than average waters off the Mid-Atlantic Ocean.Credit: Weatherbell。

Even though most models, including the top American model and the vaunted European model, show an offshore path for Hurricane Maria, that scenario is not certain.。

One thing forecasters are more confident about, though, is that the storm is not expected to regain its ferocious Category 5 intensity that it had prior to hitting Dominica and St. Croix.
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In fact, it may diminish to a Category 1 storm by the time it either makes a turn out to sea or a run at the East Coast. 。

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This is because it will be traveling over cooler ocean waters and will be located in an atmospheric environment that is less conducive to supporting an intense tropical cyclone.。

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。This is how hurricanes are named 。