Maria now a hurricane, threatens new blow to islands.

A host of Caribbean islands — some of them slammed by Hurricane Irma last week — are again in the path of a hurricane after the former Tropical Storm Maria morphed into a hurricane Sunday afternoon.

Hurricane Maria is a Category 1 storm with sustained winds of 80mph, the National Hurricane Center said in its 8 p.m. advisory.

The storm’s maximum sustained winds increased and became better organized as it churned westnorthwest at 15 miles per hour. The minimum wind speed threshold for a hurricane is 74 mph.

It’s still too early to tell what kind of a threat Maria presents to Florida, forecasters say.

Early forecast models, also known informally as the spaghetti tracks, tend to show Maria turning north near the eastern side of the Bahamas and avoiding Florida. But again, hurricane experts caution against putting too much trust in forecast models this early out, given the high chance they’ll continue to change.

More certain was the grim outlook that Maria would likely impact some of the islands ravaged by Hurricane Irma, leaving dozens of people dead.

“Our main worry currently is for the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic,” said Chris Fisher, a forecaster in the Miami office of the weather service.

The Leeward Islands make up the northeastern perimeter of the Caribbean and include Anguilla, St. Martin, Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Dominica, and the Virgin Islands, among others.

Irma first made landfall on Barbuda, devastating the island before continuing on a path of destruction across the Caribbean islands before making its first U.S. landfall in the Florida Keys.

Maria’s status prompted hurricane warnings for the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Martin/St. Maarten, St. Bathelemy and Anguilla. Hurricane warnings mean hurricane conditions are expected in the area within 36 hours.

Hurricane watches — meaning hurricane conditions are possible within 48 hours — are also now in effect for Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat.

Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines would see tropical storm conditions within 48 hours. Forecasters expect tropical storm conditions in Martinique, Antigua, Barbuda and St. Lucia within 36 hours.

Low wind shear and warm waters are helping Maria develop, Fisher said.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Jose has prompted tropical storm watches for coasts of Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland as its predicted path shows it could brush New England.